^gSW  OF  PRINCf^v 


^OtosiCAL  SE*^ 


PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL 
ASPECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 
PROFESSOR  A.  T.   ROBERTSON 


BY     PROF.     A.     T.    ROBERTSON 


Critical  Notes  to  Broadus*  Harmony  of  the  Gospels 

Life  and  Letters  of  John  A.  Broadus 

Teaching  of  Jesus  Concerning  God  the  Father 

The  Student's  Chronological  New  Testament 

Syllabus  for  New  Testament  Study 

Keywords  in  the  Teaching  of  Jesus 

Epochs  in  the  Life  of  Jesus 

A  Short  Grammar  of  the  Greek  New  Testament 

Epochs  in  the  Life  of  Paul 

Commentary  on  Matthew 

John  the  Loyal 

The  Glory  of  the  Ministry 

A  Grammar  of  the  Greek  New  Testament  in  the 

Light  of  Historical  Research 
Practical  and  Social  Aspects  of  Christianity 


Practical  and  Social 
Aspects  of  Christianity 

THE  WISDOM  OF  JAMES 


By 

Prof.  A.  T.  ROBERTSON,  M.A.,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


Professor  of  New  Testament  Interpretation,  Southern  Baptist 
Tbeological   Seminary,  Louisville,  Ky. 


"The  Wisdom  that  is  from  Above" 


0^WT'- 


•IVC.L 


SSmigjl  *9fiS 


HODDER  &   STOUGHTON 

NEW  YORK 

GEORGE    H.  DORAN   COMPANY 


Copyright,  191S,  by 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


TO 

W.  R.  MOODY 

WORTHY  SON  OF  NOBLE  SIRE 


PREFACE 

In  August,  1 91 2,  it  was  my  privilege  to  deliver  a 
course  of  lectures  at  the  Northfield  Bible  Conference. 
There  were  many  requests  for  the  publication  of  the 
addresses.  I  shall  never  forget  the  bright  faces  of 
the  hundreds  who  gathered  in  beautiful  Sage  Chapel 
at  8:30  on  those  August  mornings.  In  August,  19 13, 
the  lectures  were  repeated  at  the  New  York  Chau- 
tauqua and  at  the  Winona  Bible  Conference.  There 
were  renewed  appeals  for  publication,  but  it  was  not 
possible  to  put  the  material  into  shape  because  of 
my  work  on  "A  Grammar  of  the  Greek  New  Testa- 
ment in  the  Light  of  Historical  Research."  I  have 
expanded  the  lectures  a  good  deal  and  have  added 
some  introductory  discussion  about  James  himself. 
I  have  in  mind  ministers,  social  workers,  students  of 
the  Bible,  Sunday-School  teachers,  and  all  lovers  of 
the  word  of  God  and  of  Tightness  of  life.  Technical 
matters  are  placed  in  parentheses  or  in  footnotes  so 
that  the  reader  may  go  on  without  these  if  he  cares 
to  do  so.  There  is  a  freshness  in  the  Greek  text  not 
possible  in  the  English,  but  those  who  do  not  know 
Greek  may  still  read  this  book  with  entire  ease.  I 
do  not  claim  that  these  addresses  are  a  detailed 
commentary  on  the  Epistle  of  James.  They  are  ex- 
pository talks,  based,  I  trust,  on  sober,  up-to-date 
scholarship  and  applied  to  modern  life.  It  is  the  old 
gospel  in  the  new  age  that  we  need  and  must  know 
how  to  use.     There  is  a  wondrous  charm  in  these 


Vlll 


PREFACE 


words  of  the  long  ago  from  one  who  walked  so  close 
by  the  side  of  the  Son  of  Man,  who  misunderstood 
him  at  first,  but  who  came  at  last  to  rejoice  in  his 
Brother  in  the  flesh  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the 
Glory.  It  is  immensely  worth  while  to  listen  to 
what  James  has  to  say  about  Christianity  and  the 
problems  of  every-day  life.  His  words  throb  with 
power  to-day  and  strike  a  peculiarly  modern  note 
in  the  emphasis  upon  social  problems  and  reality  in 
religion.  They  have  the  breath  of  Heaven  and  the 
warmth  of  human  sympathy  and  love. 

A.  T.  Robertson. 
Louisville,  Ky.,  April,  1915. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I    James,  the  Servant  of  God  and  of  the 

Lord  Jesus  Christ,     i  :  ia 13 

II    To  the  Twelve  Tribes  Which  Are  of  the 

Dispersion,      i  :  ib 47 

III  Joy  in  Trial.     1:2-11 53 

IV  The  Way  of  Temptation,      i  :  12-18 72 

V    The  Practice  of  the  Word  of  God.   1:19-27    87 

VI    Class  Prejudice.    2:1-13 107 

VII    The  Appeal  to  Life.    2:14-26 127 

VIII    The  Tongues  of  Teachers.     3:1-12 143 

IX    The  True  Wise  Man.    3:13-18 170 

X  The  Outer  and  the  Inner  Life.     4:1-12.   190 

XI    God  and  Business.    4:13-5:6 214 

XII    Perseverance  and  Prayer.     5 : 7-20 240 

ix 


PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 
OF  CHRISTIANITY 


CHAPTER  I 

James,  the  Servant  of  God  and  op  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,     i  :  ia 

i.  The  Brother  of  the  Lord. 

It  will  be  well  to  put  together  the  bits  of  informa- 
tion about  James,  or  Jacob,1  as  he  is  called  in  the 
Greek.  They  are  not  very  numerous,  and  yet  it  is 
possible  to  form  a  reasonably  clear  picture  of  his 
personality. 

It  is  here  assumed  that  the  James  the  author  of 
the  Epistle  is  the  James  the  brother  of  the  Lord 
(Gal.  1:19).  It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  James 
the  brother  of  John  could  have  written  the  Epistle, 
since  he  was  put  to  death  as  early  as  A.  D.  44  by 
Herod  Agrippa  I  (Acts  12:2).  The  matters  pre- 
sented in  the  Epistle  were  hardly  acute  in  the  Jew- 
ish Christian  world  by  that  date,  and  there  is  no 
evidence  that  this  James  had  attained  a  special 
position  of  leadership  that  justified  a  general  appeal 
to  Jewish  Christians.2 

The  Epistle  belongs  to  the  five  "disputed"  (dvriXe- 
ybjitva)  Epistles  (James,  Jude,  2  and  3  John,  2  Peter) 
and  circulated  in  the  east  before  it  did  in  the  west. 

1  'lanugos.  Our  "James"  comes  through  the  Italian  "Giacomo." 
The  name  is  common  enough  in  the  first  century  A.  D. 

2  For  careful  discussion  of  the  authenticity  of  the  Epistle,  see 
Mayor,  Epistle  of  James,  pp.  xlvii-lxvii;  Plummer,  St.  James,  pp. 
13-24. 

13 


14     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

It  occurs  in  the  Peshitta  Syriac  Version.  Origen  (In 
Johan.  xix.  6)  knows  it  as  "the  Epistle  current  as 
that  of  James"  (rq  (pepo/xevy  'lanoifiov  kmoToXy),  and 
Eusebius  (H.  E.  III.  xxv.  3)  describes  it  with  the 
other  four  as  "nevertheless  well-known  to  most 
people"  {yvu)giji(iiv  6'  ovv  6[iG)g  rolg  noXXoig). 

There  are  many  proofs1  that  the  Epistle  was 
written  by  the  author  of  the  speech  in  Acts  1 5 : 
13-21,  delicate  similarities  of  thought  and  style  too 
subtle  for  mere  imitation  or  copying.  The  same 
likeness  appears  between  the  Epistle  of  James  and 
the  Letter  to  Antioch,  probably  written  also  by 
James  (Acts  15:23-29).  There  are,  besides,  ap- 
parent reminiscences  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
which  James  may  have  heard  or;  at  any  rate,  the 
substance  of  it.  There  is  the  same  vividness  of 
imagery  in  the  Epistle  that  is  so  prominent  a  char- 
acteristic of  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  If  it  be  urged 
that  the  author  of  the  Epistle,  if  kin  to  Jesus,  would 
have  said  so,  one  may  reply  that  a  delicate  sense  of 
propriety  may  have  had  precisely  the  opposite 
effect.  Jesus  had  himself  laid  emphasis  on  the 
fact  of  his  spiritual  kinship  with  all  believers  as 
more  important  (Matt.  12:48-50).  The  fact  that 
James  during  the  ministry  of  Jesus  was  not  sympa- 
thetic with  his  work  would  also  act  as  a  restraining 
force  upon  him.  The  brother  of  Jesus  (cf.  also 
Jude  1)  would  naturally  wish  to  make  his  appeal 
on  the  same  plane  as  the  other  teachers  of  the 
gospel.  He  rejoices  in  the  title  of  "servant  of  God 
and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  (deov  Kai  Kvpiov  'l-qoov 

1  See  Mayor  on  James,  p.  iv. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         15 

Xpiarov  dovXog)  just  as  Paul  did  later  (Rom.  1:1;  Phil. 
1:1;  Tit.  1:1),  and  as  Jude,  the  brother  of  James, 
also  did  (Jude  1).  Paul,  however,  added  the  term 
"apostle"  (dnooToXog)  in  Rom.  1 :  1  and  Tit.  1:1,  which 
James  and  Jude  do  not  employ.  They  were  none  of 
them  members  of  the  Twelve,  though  Paul  claimed 
apostleship  on  a  par  with  the  Twelve  (1  Cor.  9:  if.; 
15:8;  2  Cor.  12:  1  if.).  And  yet  Paul  implies  (Gal. 
1:19)  that  James  also  is  an  apostle1  in  a  true  sense  of 
that  term.  Like  Paul,  he  had  seen  the  risen  Lord 
(1  Cor.  15:  7).  But  James,  though  one  of  the  "pil- 
lars" at  Jerusalem,  with  Peter  and  John  (Gal.  2:9), 
is  content  with  the  humbler  word  "slave"  (dovXog). 
He  is  the  bondsman  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  well 
as  of  God,  and  so  is  a  Christian  in  the  full  sense  of 
the  term.  He  places  Jesus  on  a  par  with  God  and 
uses  Christ  (Xgiorov)  as  a  part  of  the  name.  There 
is  no  "Jesus  or  Christ"  controversy  for  James.  He 
identifies  his  brother  Jesus  with  the  Messiah  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  hopes  and 
aspirations  of  true  Judaism.  One  must  perceive 
that  the  term  "Christ"  in  the  mouth  of  James 
carries  its  full  content  and  is  used  deliberately.  He 
adds  also  "Lord"  (nvpiov),  which  has  here  the  Old 
Testament  atmosphere2  of  worship.  It  is  not  a 
mere  polite  term  for  station  or  courtesy.  The 
use  of  "Lord"  by  the  side  of  "God"  places  James 
unquestionably  in  the  ranks  of  worshipers  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  Lord  and  Saviour.  See  also  James  2:1, 
"faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

1  Barnabas  is  also  called  an  apostle  in  Acts  14:4,  14. 

2  See  Warfield,  The  Lord  of  Glory. 


16     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

I  consider  it  settled  that  James  was  not  the 
"cousin"  (aveipiog)  of  Jesus,  the  son  of  the  sister  of 
Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  Greek  word  for  brother  (&deX<p6s)  is  used  for  mem- 
bers of  a  brotherhood  in  the  current  Greek  of  the 
first  century  A.  D.,1  just  as  we  find  it  so  frequently  in 
the  New  Testament.  This  usage  does  not  apply  to 
the  "brothers  of  Jesus"  in  the  Gospels  (John  2:  12; 
Mark  6:3;  Matt.  13:55;  John  7:3).  In  Matt.  12: 
46,  49  we  find  the  literal  and  figurative  use  of 
"brother"  side  by  side.  In  this  looser  sense  anyone 
may  be  called  "brother."  To-day,  in  some  sections 
of  the  United  States,  it  is  a  common  term  between 
strangers  who  accost  each  other  on  trains.  In  Lev. 
10:4  the  first  cousins  of  Aaron  are  termed  "breth- 
ren" (adetyoi) ,  but  this  instance  does  not  justify  the 
constant  use  of  the  word  in  the  Gospels  for  a  definite 
group  of  persons  as  "brothers"  of  Jesus  if  they  were 
only  "cousins."  Besides,  they  appear  constantly 
with  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  as  members  of  her 
family.  The  use  of  "sisters"  (adeX<f>ai)  increases  the 
argument  for  the  common  use  of  the  word  (Mark 
6:3;  Matt.  13:5-6).  There  are  many  other  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  this  position  of  Jerome  (Hie- 
ronymian  Theory),  like  the  fact  of  two  sisters  with 
the  same  name  of  Mary  and  the  identification  of 
Alphaeus  and  Clopas. 

The  Epiphanian  Theory,  that  James  and  the  other 
brothers  and  sisters  are  all  children  of  Joseph  by  a 
former  marriage  (step-brother  theory),  is  free  from 
the  difficulty  about  the  word  "brother"  and  is  not 

1  See  Deissmann,  Light  from  the  Ancient  East,  pp.  96,  107,  227. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         17 

inconceivable  in  itself,  if  there  were  no  critical  ob- 
jections to  it.  Unfortunately  there  are,  for  Jesus  is 
not  called  "only-begotten"  (novoyevrjc;)  of  Mary,  but 
"first-born"  (npuroTOKog)  in  Luke  2:7:  "She  brought 
forth  her  firstborn  son." 

Jesus  is  "only-begotten"  of  God  (John  1: 18),  as 
the  widow  of  Nain  had  an  "only -begotten"  son 
(Luke  7 :  12)  and  Jairus  an  "only-begotten"  daughter 
(Luke  8:42).  But  "first-born"  occurs  in  the  true 
sense  all  through  the  Septuagint  (cf.  Gen.  27:19, 
32;  43:33;  Deut.  21:15),  where  there  were  other 
children.  The  inscriptions1  show  it  in  the  true 
sense.  The  New  Testament  instances  of  "first- 
born" are  all  strictly  correct  from  this  stand- 
point, even  Col.  1:15  and  Rom.  8:29.2  "First- 
born" implies  other  children.  Besides,  the  nat- 
ural meaning  of  Matt.  1:25  leads  to  the  same 
conclusion. 

The  Helvidean  Theory  (brother  or  half-brother 
theory)  that  Jesus  and  James  were  sons  of  the 
same  mother,  Mary,  may  be  said  to  hold  the  field 
against  the  others.  In  fact,  it  is  most  likely  that 
both  of  the  other  theories  grew  out  of  the  desire  to 
secure  a  greater  imaginary  sanctity  for  Mary  under 
the  impression  that  she  was  more  holy  if  she  bore 
only  Jesus  and  did  not  live  as  wife  with  Joseph. 
But  this  is  contrary  to  all  Jewish  sentiment,  and 
certainly  there  is  nothing  in  the  Gospels  to  coun- 
tenance this  notion,  but  much  to  contradict  it.    We 


1  Deissmann,  Light  from  the  Ancient  East,  p.  88. 

i2Suicer,  ii.  p.  877,  quotes  from  Theodoret  ei  7rpwr<5ro/cof,  ituq  juovo. 


i8     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

conclude,  therefore,  that  James,  the  author  of  the 
Epistle,  is  the  brother  of  Jesus.1 

2.  In  the  Family  Circle  at  Nazareth. 

In  spite  of  Origen's  opinion  (Origen  on  Matt. 
13:  55)  that  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Joseph  were 
children  of  a  former  marriage,  an  opinion  more 
than  offset  by  the  position  of  Tertullian  {de  Monog. 
8,  de  Virg.  Vel.  6),  we  must  think  of  the  family- 
circle  at  Nazareth  as  composed  of  five  brothers 
(Jesus,  James,  Joses,  Judas,  Simon,  in  Mark  6:3, 
but  Jesus,  James,  Joseph,  Simon,  Judas  in  Matt. 
13 :  55)  and  the  "sisters."  Every  implication  is  that 
they  all  passed  as  sons  and  daughters  of  Joseph  and 
Mary  in  the  usual  sense.  The  order  implies  also 
that,  while  Jesus  is  the  eldest,  James  comes  next 
among  the  brothers.  Unfortunately  the  names  of 
the  sisters  are  not  given.  We  are  to  think  therefore 
of  a  large  home  circle  in  the  humble  carpenter's 
house  in  Nazareth.  Jesus,  the  eldest,  followed  the 
trade  of  Joseph,  the  father  of  the  family,  and  came  to 
be  known  as  "the  carpenter"  (6  tektuv,  Mark  6:3). 
Certainly  all  the  children  must  have  learned  to 
work  with  their  hands,  though  we  do  not  know 
whether  James  adopted  that  trade  or  some  other. 
He  would  soon  be  called  upon  to  help  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  family,  as  Joseph  seems  to  be  dead 
when  Jesus  enters  upon  his  ministry,  since  he  is  not 
mentioned  with  Mary  and  the  children  in  Matt.  13  155 
and   Mark  6:3.    Joseph  was  probably  older  than 

1  For  a  very  sane  and  clear  discussion  of  the  whole  subject,  see 
Patrick,  James  the  Lord's  Brother,  pp.  1-21. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         19 

Mary.  The  family  were  not  peasants  and  probably 
had  all  the  necessary  comforts  of  the  simple  primi- 
tive life  of  a  workman  in  a  small  town  in  Galilee. 

Jewish  boys  usually  started  to  school  when  six 
years  old,  but  before  that  the  education  of  James 
had  begun  in  the  home.  "James,  together  with  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  was  brought  up  in  an  atmos- 
phere charged  with  reverence  for  God  and  love  for 
man,  with  tenderness,  freedom,  and  joy."1  The 
Jewish  parents  did  not  shirk  parental  responsibility 
for  the  religious  training  of  the  children,  and  a  large 
family  was  regarded  as  a  blessing  from  God.  The 
love  of  God  was  the  first  of  all  lessons  taught  at 
home  and  this  was  followed  by  the  simple  elements 
of  truth,  uprightness,  mercy,  and  beneficence.2  The 
Jewish  mother  rejoiced  in  her  children,  and  James 
was  fortunate  in  having  such  a  mother  as  Mary 
and  such  a  father  as  Joseph. 

At  school,  while  religion  was  the  main  theme  and 
portions  of  the  Old  Testament  the  text-book,  there 
was  abundant  intellectual  stimulus.  The  quick- 
witted boy  would  be  all  alive  to  the  great  problems 
of  faith  and  duty.  The  teacher  would  probably  use 
the  Aramaic  dialect  of  Galilee  even  if  he  had  the 
Old  Testament  in  Hebrew.  But  the  boy  would  soon 
learn  to  speak  the  Koine  also,  the  current  Greek  of 
the  world,  the  language  of  commerce  and  of  com- 
mon intercourse  everywhere.  Simon  Peter,  the 
fisherman,  knew  and  used  Greek,  as  did  John,  the 
apostle.     It  was  common  for  people  to  know  two 

1  Patrick,  James  the  Lord's  Brother,  p.  23. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  25. 


20     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

languages.  Paul  probably  knew  Aramaic  and  He- 
brew, Greek  and  Latin.  Jesus  knew  and  spoke 
both  Aramaic  and  Greek  and  probably  knew  the 
Hebrew  also.  James  came  to  write  Greek  with  a 
great  deal  of  ease  and  skill.  He  was  in  no  sense  a 
litterateur.  He  was  no  Atticist  in  his  style  and  did 
not  try  to  imitate  the  classical  Greek  writers,  whom 
he  probably  never  read.  Deissmann1  does  call  the 
Epistle  of  James  "a  little  piece  of  literature,"  but 
he  means  "a  product  of  popular  literature."  Cer- 
tainly there  is  nothing  artificial  in  content  and  style. 
Is  it  mere  fancy  to  think  that  the  same  poetic  beauty 
shown  in  Mary's  Magnificat  (Luke  i :  46-55)  appears 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  in  the  Epistle  of 
James?  At  least,  the  rich  acquaintance  with  the 
Old  Testament  exists  in  all  three.  The  author  of 
the  Epistle  is  gifted  with  imagination  and  shows 
knowledge  of  the  Apocryphal  books,  especially  the 
wisdom  literature  of  the  Jews,  but  he  is  a  thorough 
Jew  in  his  outlook  and  literary  method,2  so  much  so 
indeed  that  it  is  contended  by  some  that  James 
wrote  the  Epistle  originally  in  Aramaic,3  an  unlikely 
supposition.  The  widespread  diffusion  of  Greek  in 
Palestine  amply  accounts  for  the  author's  grasp  of 
the  language.4  The  epigrammatic  and  picturesque 
style  is  due  to  the  writer's  individuality,  his  en- 
vironment, and  his  reading.  His  vocabulary  is  rich 
in  words  about  fishing,   husbandry,   and  domestic 


1  Light  from  the  Ancient  East,  p.  235. 

2  Milligan,  New  Testament  Documents,  p.  III. 

*  Cf.  Mayor,  on  James,  pp.  ccv-ccxiii. 

*  Milligan,  New  Testament  Documents,  p.  III. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         21 

life,  as  one  would  expect.1  A  man  of  the  force  and 
position  of  James  could  easily  broaden  his  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Greek  tongue  as  the  years 
went  by.  The  Greek  is  pure  Koine,  with  few  He- 
braisms, though  the  tone  is  distinctly  that  of  the 
Old  Testament.2  He  speaks  like  a  prophet  of  old 
in  the  service  of  Christ.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
James  came  to  be  a  man  of  culture  in  a  real  sense. 

He  probably  married  early,  as  it  was  the  custom 
of  the  Jews  for  men  to  marry  at  the  age  of  eighteen.3 
Paul  expressly  states  that  "the  brothers  of  the  Lord" 
(oi  adeXcpoi  rov  icvpiov)  were  married  (1  Cor.  9:5).  We 
do  not  know,  of  course,  the  age  of  James  when  Jesus 
began  his  ministry.  In  all  probability  he  had  al- 
ready married  and  had  a  home  of  his  own  in  Naz- 
areth. The  sisters  probably  married  and  settled  in 
Nazareth  also  (Mark  6:3). 

We  have  no  mention  of  the  rest  of  the  children 
going  to  Jerusalem  when  the  Boy  Jesus  was  taken 
(Luke  2:41-52).  Indeed,  it  is  rather  implied  that 
they  were  not  in  the  company,  but  this  does  not 
mean  that  James  did  not  have  his  turn  to  go  when 
he  was  twelve  years  old  and  afterwards. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  James  grew  up 
to  be  a  Nazirite,  as  Hegesippus  as  quoted  by  Euse- 
bius  (H.  E.  ii.  23)  alleges:  "He  is  distinguished  from 
others  of  the  same  name  by  the  title  'Just, '  which  has 
been  applied  to  him  from  the  first.     He  was  holy 

1  Mayor,  on  James,  p.  cxcii. 

2  Robertson,  A  Grammar  of  the  Greek  N.  T.  in  the  Light  of 
Historical  Research,  p.  123. 

3  C.  Taylor,  Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers,  App.  97. 


22     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

from  his  mother's  womb,  drank  no  wine  or  strong 
drink,  nor  ate  animal  food;  no  razor  came  on  his 
head,  nor  did  he  anoint  himself  with  oil  nor  use  the 
bath.  To  him  only  was  it  permitted  to  enter  the 
Holy  of  Holies."  The  evident  legendary  details  here 
deprive  the  statement  of  real  value  except  as  wit- 
ness to  his  genuine  piety  and  to  the  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held  by  the  people  generally.  Hegesippus 
adds:  "His  knees  became  hard  like  a  camel's,  be- 
cause he  was  always  kneeling  in  the  temple,  asking 
forgiveness  for  the  people,"  a  description  of  his  life 
in  Jerusalem  after  he  became  a  Christian.  At  any 
rate,  like  Joseph,  his  father,  he  grew  up  to  be  a 
just  man  and  came  to  be  known  as  James  the  Just. 

3 .  A  Scoffer  of  Jesus. 

We  are  left  to  conjecture  what  the  brothers  and 
sisters  of  Jesus  thought  when  he  went  down  to  the 
Jordan  to  meet  the  Baptist.  We  know  that  "Mary 
kept  all  these  sayings,  pondering  them  in  her  heart" 
(Luke  2:  19).1  Mary  had  seen  the  dawning  Mes- 
sianic consciousness  when  Jesus  was  only  twelve 
(Luke  2:49).  The  reply  of  Jesus  to  his  mother's 
hint  about  the  wine  at  the  wedding  of  Cana  implies 
that  Jesus  and  his  mother  had  talked  over  his  Mes- 
sianic task  (John  2:4).  But  the  brothers  accom- 
panied Jesus,  his  mother,  and  the  small  band  of  six 
disciples  to  Capernaum  after  the  miracle  at  Cana, 
and   the  group  remained   together  for  some  days 

1 7}  6f  Map/a  navra  awerr/pn  (note  imperfect  tense,  linear  action)  ra 
pf/unrn  mwfj&'k'kovaa  (putting  together,  piece  by  piece,  every  won- 
drous detail  with  a  mother's  brooding  love)  b>  rij  napdig  ai)Tf/c 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         23 

(John  2:12).  They  may  have  met  at  Nazareth 
after  the  wedding  at  Cana  and  thence  proceeded  to 
Capernaum.  It  is  possible  that  the  brothers,  not 
being  at  Cana,  and  not  being  in  the  secret  between 
Jesus  and  Mary,  may  not  have  grasped  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  events  connected  with  the  baptism 
of  Jesus  and  his  entrance  upon  his  Messianic  career. 
The  presence  of  the  band  of  "disciples"  (iiad^rai, 
learners  at  the  feet  of  the  new  Rabbi)  argues  that 
the  brothers  must  have  known  something  about  the 
wonderful  claims  of  Jesus  their  brother.  At  any 
rate,  it  is  pleasant  to  see  them  all  here  together  in 
Capernaum  in  fellowship  and  friendliness,  "a  proof 
of  the  closeness  of  the  ties  uniting  our  Lord  and 
them.  No  shadow  of  estrangement  had  as  yet 
fallen  upon  their  relations."1  Godet  (on  Luke  2:  12) 
thinks  that  Mary  and  the  brothers  came  on  to 
Capernaum  eager  for  more  miracles  like  the  one  at 
Cana,  and  may  have  been  keenly  disappointed  be- 
cause Jesus  wrought  none.  This  is  possible,  but 
hardly  as  probable  as  the  idea,  that  it  is  a  friendly 
group  in  frank  fellowship  in  Capernaum.  We  are 
left  in  the  dark  as  to  the  real  attitude  of  the  brothers 
of  Jesus  when  he  begins  his  great  work.  They  may 
have  looked  upon  him  as  a  sort  of  irregular  rabbi  or 
a  mild  enthusiast  carried  away  by  the  new  teaching- 
of  John  the  Baptist.  There  would  be  natural  pride 
in  his  work,  while  it  succeeded,  without  necessary 
belief  in  his  claims.  Certainly  Mary  must  have  had 
at  first  the  utmost  faith,  tremulous  with  expecta- 
tion,  in   the   Messiahship   of  Jesus.     Perhaps  the 

1  Patrick,  James  the  Lord's  Brother,  p.  46. 


24     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

brothers  were  at  first  only  mildly  interested  or  even 
sceptical  of  the  qualifications  of  one  out  of  their 
own  family  circle.  The  brothers  may  not  have  been 
free  from  the  jealousy  sometimes  seen  in  home  life. 
It  was  not  long  before  hostility  toward  Jesus  sprang 
up  in  Nazareth  itself,  according  to  the  vivid  narra- 
tive in  Luke  4:  16-31,  probably  soon  after  the  re- 
turn of  Jesus  from  Judaea  and  Samaria  to  Galilee, 
certainly  after  the  miracle  at  Capernaum  (Luke 
4:23),  as  told  in  John  4:46-54.  Probably  James 
shared  with  the  rest  the  first  wonder  at  the  words  of 
grace  (Luke  4:  22)  and  the  quick  flash  of  wrath  as 
the  pride  of  the  town  was  pricked  (4:  28).  Hence- 
forth in  Nazareth,  despite  his  growing  fame  else- 
where, Jesus  was  persona  non  grata.  His  brothers 
felt  this  atmosphere  of  hostility  very  keenly. 

The  curtain  falls  on  the  family  life  in  Nazareth 
till  toward  the  close  of  the  Galilean  ministry,  after 
the  second  general  tour  of  Galilee  by  Jesus  (Luke 
8:  1-3).  The  tremendous  work  of  Jesus  had  created 
a  wonderful  impression.  The  multitudes  in  amaze- 
ment asked  if  Jesus  were  not  the  son  of  David,  the 
Messiah  (Matt.  12  :  23).  The  Pharisees  in  anger  and 
chagrin  replied  that  he  was  in  league  with  Beelzebub 
(12:24).  The  excitement  was  intense.  Jesus  would 
sometimes  withdraw  to  the  deserts  and  pray  (Luke 
5:  16).  Sometimes  Jesus  and  the  crowds  would  not 
eat  (Mark  3:20).  News  of  all  this  came  to  "his 
friends"  (Mark  3:  21),  who  are  explained  in  Mark 
3:31  as  "his  mother  and  his  brothers."  Probably 
already  vague  rumors  were  afloat  that  Jesus  was 
out  of  his  head.    Once  people  said  of  Jesus  that  he 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         25 

was  "a  gluttonous  man,  and  a  winebibber"  (Luke 
7:  34),  but  now  he  is  so  queer!  In  the  inner  circle 
at  Nazareth  Mary  had  watched  and  heard  it  all. 
What  could  it  mean?  Perhaps,  Mary  argued,  his 
reason  has  been  temporarily  dethroned  by  the  strain 
and  the  excitement.  She  will  go  and  bring  him 
home,  where  he  can  have  quiet  and  rest.  It  was 
easier  for  the  brothers  to  see  it  so,  since  they  had 
not  accepted  him  as  Messiah.  Perhaps  one  may 
have  said,  "I  told  you  so."  At  any  rate,  "they  went 
to  lay  hold  on  him:  for  they  said,  He  is  beside  him- 
self" (Mark  3:2i).1  Jesus  is  in  a  crowded  house 
in  Galilee  near  the  Lake  when  they  come  (Mark 
3:19)  and  readily  understands  why  they  have 
come  when  he  is  told  that  his  mother  and  brothers 
are  standing  without  and  wish  to  speak  with  him 
(Mark  3:31;  Matt.  12:46;  Luke  8:  iof.).  It  is  a 
tragedy  of  life,  pathetic  beyond  words.  The  eccle- 
siastics have  long  ago  made  issue  with  him  and  are 
now  violently  assailing  him.  Many  of  the  people 
are  following  the  lead  of  the  Pharisees.  And  now 
his  own  mother  and  brothers  have  come  and  wish 
to  take  him  home  so  as  to  avoid  the  scandal  and 
shame  of  his  further  public  ministry.  The  Pharisees 
say  he  has  a  demon  and  is  in  league  with  the  devil. 
The  "charitable"  construction  therefore  is  that  he  is 
a  lunatic.  But  Jesus  does  not  go  out  to  meet  his 
own  mother  and  brothers  (James  among  them).  He 
had  come  to  know  one  of  the  bitterest  of  human 
sorrows,  a  pang  to  the  very  heart,  to  be  misunder- 
stood "among  his  own  kin,  and  in  his  own  house" 

^'Efeffrj?.    Cf.  our  "ecstasy,"  a  "standing  out"  of  oneself. 


26     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

(Mark  6:4).  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that 
Jesus  found  consolation  in  the  fact  that  many  did 
understand  him.  "And  looking  round  on  them 
which  sat  round  about  him,"1  when  the  message 
came,  "he  stretched  forth  his  hand  towards  his 
disciples,"2  and  said:  "Behold  my  mother  and  my 
brethren!  For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven,  he  is  my  brother,  and 
sister,  and  mother."3  Mother  and  brothers  had 
failed  in  the  crisis  to  comprehend  Jesus  and  even 
his  "sisters"  (note  "and  sister").  But  the  Father 
in  heaven  had  not  veiled  his  face  from  Jesus.  It  is 
not  clear  that  James  heard  this  pathetic  rebuke 
from  Jesus,  as  he  may  have  remained  standing  out- 
side the  house.  Many  have  come  into  spiritual 
fellowship  with  Jesus  who  thus  have  the  peculiar 
consolation  of  taking  the  place  made  empty  in  his 
heart  for  the  time  by  mother  and  sister  and  brother. 
With  Mary  it  was  a  temporary  eclipse  and  she  was 
loyal  at  the  end  as  she  stood  by  the  cross.4 

Jesus  made  another  and  a  last  visit  to  Nazareth 
(Matt.  13:54-58;  Mark  6:1-6).  There  was  a  re- 
vival of  interest  in  him  which  crystallized  into  hard 
scepticism,  so  that  Jesus  did  not  many  mighty 
works  there,  and  even  "marvelled  because  of  their 


1  Mark  3 :  34,  xal  irepi(3fctpafievo<;  rove  nepl  avrbv  KVK?.<f>  nadr/fiivovf, 
with  all  of  Mark's  particularity  and  vividness. 

2  CKTtivas  ttjv  xeiPa  \p.vTmt\  knl  tov$  /iadrjTa<;  avrov  (Matt.  12:48),  with 
expressive  gesture. 

*  Matt.  12:49  f. 

*  John  19:25,  irapa  r<J  aravpu  tov  'Irjoov,  close  beside  it,  probably 
means  as  near  as  was  allowed.  Here  his  mother  stood  with  the  other 
women. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD        27 

unbelief."  He  was  a  "prophet  without  honor"  in 
Nazareth  as  he  left  for  the  last  time  the  city  of  his 
childhood  and  early  manhood. 

The  tide  at  last  turned  against  Jesus  in  Caper- 
naum (John  6:  22-71)  and  in  Galilee  generally.  For 
six  months  he  remains  away  save  for  a  brief  visit 
that  met  with  the  united  hostility  of  Pharisee  and 
Sadducee  (Matt.  15:39  to  16:4;  Mark  8:10-13). 
The  brothers  of  Jesus  meanwhile  seem  to  grow  in 
this  spirit  of  dislike  toward  the  elder  brother.  Six 
months  before  the  death  of  Jesus  they  ridicule  him 
for  his  being  a  virtual  refugee  from  Galilee  and  for 
his  secretive  methods,  quite  inconsistent  with  his 
claims  of  Messiahship  (John  7 :  2-5).  James  as  the' 
oldest  of  the  brothers  was  probably  the  spokesman 
on  this  occasion.  The  "advice"  was  of  an  extremely 
irritating  nature,  with  the  implication  that  Jesus  was 
seeking  to  gain  credit  "in  public"  ("openly,"  kv  napprja- 
oia)  while  doing  his  work  "in  secret"  ("in  a  hidden" 
place,  ev  kpvtttw).  It  is  not  surprising  therefore  that 
Jesus  did  precisely  the  opposite,  for  he  went  up  to 
Jerusalem,  "not  publicly,  but  as  it  were  in  secret" 
(John  7:1c).1  John  explains  the  motive  of  the 
brothers  (4:5),  "for  even  his  brethren  did  not  be- 
lieve on  him."2  They  have  reached  the  point  when 
they  are  willing  to  attack  Jesus.  They  belonged  to 
the  world  and  did  not  understand  Jesus  (John 
7 :  6f.)-  It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  James  was 
actually  a  Pharisee,  still  less  an  Essene.     The  use 

1  ov  Qavcpaf  (cf.  (j>avspuaov  in  7:4),  0AA0  wf  kv  Kprmrij)  (cf.  kv  Kpwrrqi 
in  7:4). 

1  It  is  oiide  eirioTcvov  and  expresses  a  long  standing  attitude. 


28     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

made  of  his  name  by  the  Judaizers  in  the  contro- 
versy with  Paul  does  not  prove  this  to  be  true 
(Gal.  2:  12).  But  certainly  he  was  now  in  general 
sympathy  with  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  ecclesias- 
tics from  Jerusalem  (both  Pharisee  and  Sadducee). 
The  cup  that  Jesus  must  drink  at  Jerusalem  has 
this  added  bitterness  in  it.  It  is  not  particularly 
surprising,  when  all  things  are  considered,  that  at 
his  death  Jesus  commended  his  mother  to  John  the 
Beloved  Disciple  rather  than  to  any  of  his  brothers 
or  sisters.  They  were  all  completely  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  him  and  with  her.  At  such  an  hour 
sympathy  counted  for  far  more  than  blood  without 
it.  Besides,  the  brothers  may  not  have  been  in 
Jerusalem  at  this  time,  for  they  still  lived  in  Naz- 
areth. It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  James  may 
have  been  at  the  Passover,  which  was  so  generally 
attended  by  the  Jews.  Certainly  he  was  at  Pente- 
cost later  (Acts  1:  14).  We  do  not  know  whether 
Jesus  appeared  to  James  in  Jerusalem  or  in  Galilee 
(1  Cor.  15:7),  though  Paul  mentions  it  after  the 
appearance  to  the  more  than  five  hundred,  which  was 
in  Galilee.  Mary  needed  immediate  attention,  and 
was  probably  taken  away  from  the  cross  at  once  by 
John  "unto  his  own  home"  (elg  rd  idia),1  probably  the 
Jerusalem  home  of  his  mother,  certainly  not  Galilee 
now.  John  then  came  back  to  the  cross  and  saw  the 
piercing  of  the  side  of  Jesus  by  the  Roman  soldier 
(John  19:35).  But  at  any  rate,  it  is  clear  that 
Jesus  died  upon  the  cross  with  James  and  all  his 

1  John  19 :  27.     Cf .  1 : 1 1 ;  Acts  2 1 : 6.     This  use  of  ra  Uia  for  one's 
home  appears  in  the  papyri.    Cf.  B.  U.  86  (ii  A.  U.),  183  (i  A.  D.). 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         29 

brothers  and  sisters  utterly  out  of  touch  with  him. 
"Doubtless  their  very  intimacy  with  our  Lord 
blinded  them  to  his  real  greatness."1 

4.  Seeing  the  Risen  Christ. 

It  is  Paul  who  tells  us  of  this  most  interesting 
event  (1  Cor.  15:  7). 2  As  already  stated,  we  do  not 
know  where  James  was  when  the  Risen  Jesus  mani- 
fested himself  to  him.  Broadus3  locates  the  event 
in  Jerusalem  after  the  return  from  Galilee  and  be- 
fore the  Ascension.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  could 
have  been  in  Galilee  perfectly  well.  James  may 
have  come  to  Jerusalem  (Acts  1 :  14)  because  he  had 
been  converted  in  Galilee.  At  any  rate,  "this  ap- 
pearance to  James  is  the  only  one  not  made  to  a 
known  believer."4  But  Dale5  holds  that  James  had 
already  been  converted  before  his  Brother  appeared 
to  him,  as  a  result  of  information  from  his  mother 
or  from  the  apostles.  This  is,  of  course,  possible,  but 
it  cannot  be  insisted  on  as  necessary  on  the  ground 
that  Jesus  appeared  to  believers  only.  The  case  of 
Saul  refutes  that  position.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
James  may  have  heard  of  the  report  of  the  Resur- 
rection of  Jesus  and  had  thus  some  preparation  for 
the  great  event  when  he  saw  Jesus  risen  from  the 
dead.  We  are  told  nothing  of  what  passed  between 
the  two  brothers,  but  one  may  be  sure  that  no  hard 

1  Patrick,  James  the  Lord's  Brother,  p.  60. 

2  eneira  tydt)  'Ia/cw/Ju.     The  same  verb  occurs  here  as  in  the  other 
appearances  of  Jesus. 

3  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,  p.  229. 

4  Patrick,  op.  cit.,  p.  67. 

5  Epistle  of  James,  p.  5. 


/ 


30     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

or  harsh  reproof  came  from  Jesus  for  the  indifference 
and  even  scoffing  of  James.  The  brothers  of  Jesus 
were  children  of  their  age,  which  was  a  Pharisaic  age 
in  Palestine.  The  current  expectation  was  for  a 
political  Messiah,  not  a  Saviour  dying  for  the  sins  of 
the  world.  Even  the  Twelve  Apostles  had  not  risen 
to  the  conception  of  a  spiritual  Messiah,  and  they 
had  given  up  all  hope  upon  the  death  of  Jesus  and 
had  themselves  to  be  convinced  of  the  fact  of  the 
Resurrection  of  Jesus,  a  task  of  much  difficulty, 
particularly  in  the  case  of  Thomas,  though  they  all 
at  first  scoffed  at  the  stories  of  Mary  Magdalene 
and  the  other  women.  So,  then,  the  path  of  James 
toward  faith  was  not  an  easy  one,  but  he  took  it 
and  came  boldly  out  on  the  side  of  the  disciples  of 
Christ.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  it  was  through 
James  that  the  other  three  brothers  were .  led  to 
faith  in  Jesus  as  Lord  and  Saviour  (Acts  i :  14). 

The  Gospel  of  the  Hebrews  as  quoted  by  Jerome 
(de  Viris  Illustribus  2)  gives  a  story  to  the  effect 
that  James  was  already  a  disciple  and  present  at 
the  last  Passover  with  Jesus  and  took  a  vow  "that 
he  would  not  eat  bread  from  that  hour  on  which  he 
had  drunk  the  cup  of  the  Lord  till  he  saw  him  risen 
from  the  dead.  Again,  a  little  afterward,  the  Lord 
says,  Bring  a  table  and  bread.  Immediately  it  is 
added:  He  took  bread,  and  blessed,  and  brake  it, 
and  gave  it  to  James  the  Just,  and  said  to  him,  My 
brother,  eat  the  bread;  for  the  Son  of  Man  has  risen 
from  the  dead."  Mayor1  is  inclined  to  credit  this 
story  in  part,  but  surely  it  utterly  misunderstands 

1  On  James,  p.  xxxvii. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         31 

Luke  22:  18,  makes  James  one  of  the  Twelve,  and 
is  impossible  from  any  point  of  view,  since  not  even 
the  Twelve  expected  Jesus  to  rise  from  the  dead. 
There  are  difficulties  enough  connected  with  the  proof 
of  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  without  burdening  the 
narrative  with  this  story.  But,  let  me  add,  modern 
science  has  not  made  faith  in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
impossible,  nor  has  modern  research  disposed  of  the 
value  of  the  Gospel  accounts  of  this  tremendous 
event.  Paul,  who  testifies  to  this  experience  of  James, 
is  himself  the  chief  witness  to  the  reality  of  the  fact. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of 
this  great  question,  but  modern  men  may  and  do  still 
believe  in  the  Risen  Christ  with  all  simplicity  and 
sincerity.1 

5.  In  the  Upper  Room  at  Pentecost 

The  simple  statement  in  Acts  1:14  is:  "These  all 
continued  stedfastly  in  prayer,  with  the  women,  and 
Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  with  his  brethren." 
So  then  all  four2  are  now  disciples  and  are  admitted 
to  the  inmost  secrets  of  the  circle  of  believers  in 
Jerusalem,  whither  they  have  now  come.  Certainly, 
now  that  they  have  all  come  to  believe  in  their 
Brother  as  in  reality  the  Messiah  of  Israel  risen  from 
the  dead,  they  must  come  to  Jerusalem  to  be  with 
their  mother  in  her  hour  of  triumph  and  joy.  No 
one  but  a  mother  can  understand  the  fullness  of 
satisfaction  in  Mary's  heart  now.     The  sword  had 

1  Cf.  Orr,  The  Resurrection  of  Jesus;  Thorburn,  The  Resurrection 

Narratives  and  Modern  Criticism. 

2  Kal  avv  Toli  adehpoiq  aii-ov. 


22     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

pierced  her  own  soul  (Luke  2:35),  as  old  Simeon 
had  prophesied  when  he  saw  the  Babe  in  the  temple, 
but  now  the  wound  has  been  healed  and  there  is  a 
new  and  richer  Magnificat  in  her  heart.  It  was 
worth  all  that  she  had  endured  to  wait  with  the 
disciples  in  the  Upper  Room  with  her  other  sons 
for  the  Promise  of  the  Father,  i  The  breach  in  her 
family  life  had  been  healed.  It  is  clear  that  the 
heartiest  of  welcomes  greeted  the  brothers  of  Jesus. 
They  were  men  of  importance  in  themselves,  in  par- 
ticular James,  who  from  every  standpoint  is  one  of 
the  first  men  of  his  day.  It  is  possible  that  the 
coolness  of  James  and  the  other  brothers  had  in- 
jured the  work  of  Jesus  with  a  good  many  who 
used  this  fact  against  the  claims  of  Jesus.  Now 
the  accession  of  these  brothers  was  of  the  utmost 
value  to  the  band  of  believers  gathered  in  the 
Upper  Room,  where  Jesus  had  manifested  himself 
before  his  Ascension. 

The  presence  of  the  brothers  is  mentioned  by 
Luke  before  the  choice  of  Matthias  to  succeed 
Judas.  One  may  naturally  wonder  why  James  was 
not  suggested  by  Peter,  since  he  undoubtedly  was 
equal  to  the  Eleven  in  ability  and  all  other  qualities 
save  one.  But  this  one  defect  was  fatal.  He  had  not 
been  with  the  Twelve  during  the  ministry  of  Jesus, 
and  so  could  not  be  a  first-hand  witness  to  his  words 
and  teachings  (Acts  1 :  22).  Otherwise  we  may  infer 
that  James  would  have  been  a  welcome  addition  to 
the  Twelve  in  the  place  of  Judas.1 

But  the  significant  fact  is  that  James  is  present 

1  Patrick,  op.  cit.,  p.  78. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         33 

during  the  wonderful  days  of  this  Pentecost  and  is 
rilled,  like  the  rest,  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  enters 
upon  the  new  task  of  world  evangelization  with  the 
new  insight  and  the  new  influx  of  divine  power.  He 
faces  the  new  day  with  the  light  of  the  sun  in  his 
face. 

6.  Leadership  in  the  Jerusalem  Church. 

If  he  was  disqualified  from  being  one  of  the 
Twelve,  he  was  not  debarred  from  liberty  to  serve. 
In  fact,  he  was  a  practical  apostle  in  Jerusalem 
along  with  the  rest.  The  Twelve  kept  no  secrets 
from  James.  He  gradually  won  his  way  to  the  love 
and  confidence  of  all  the  great  church  in  Jerusalem. 
His  importance  in  Jerusalem  is  recognized  by  Paul 
on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  Jerusalem  on  his  re- 
turn from  Damascus,1  for  he  says:  "Other  of  the 
apostles  saw  I  none,  save  James,  the  Lord's  brother." 
Here  Paul  treats  him  as  an  apostle  and  practically 
calls  him  so.  James  had  probably  seen  Paul  before, 
when  he  was  the  leader  of  the  persecution  against 
the  Christians.  He  was  doubtless  glad  to  see 
this  powerful  addition  to  the  forces  of  Christianity, 
but  James  is  probably  included  in  Luke's  statement 
of  the  reception  of  Paul  on  this  occasion.  "And 
they  were  all  afraid  of  him,  not  believing  that  he 
was  a  disciple"  (Acts  9:26).  Barnabas  alone  had 
faith  in  Paul  and  the  courage  to  stand  by  him.  If 
James  was  suspicious  of  the  new  convert,  so  were 
all  the  rest,  and  not  without  reason.  It  is  clear 
from  Paul's  reference  in  Gal.  1:18  (loropijoai  K7]<ptiv) 

1  Gal.  1 :  19. 


34     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

that  Peter  responded  heartily  to  Paul's  advances 
after  once  opening  his  heart  to  him.  They  had  a 
delightful  fifteen  days  together.  It  is  not  likely,  as 
Farrar1  argues,  that  James,  being  a  legalist,  held 
aloof  from  Paul  throughout.  This  is  wholly  gra- 
tuitous.2 , 

James  is  not  mentioned  again  in  Acts  till  12:  17, 
and  in  a  most  significant  manner.  James,  the 
brother  of  John,  has  been  killed  by  Herod  Agrippa  I. 
Peter  has  been  thrown  into  prison,  but  has  been 
released  by  the  angel  of  the  Lord  in  response  to  the 
prayers  of  the  church  assembled  in  the  home  of 
Mary,  mother  of  John  Mark  (12:  12).  Peter  goes 
to  the  house  and  tells  the  astonished  group:  "Tell 
these  things  unto  James,  and  to  the  brethren." 
This  is  somewhere  about  A.  D.  44.  James  now 
clearly  occupies  a  position  of  leadership  in  the 
church.  Peter  himself  apparently  leaves  the  city, 
for  the  time  being  (12:17).  There  are  already 
"elders"  (-npeopvTepoi,  11:30)  in  the  church  at  Jeru- 
salem. We  do  not  know  what  the  position  of  James 
is,  but  certainly  it  is  one  of  great  honor  and  leader- 
ship. The  apostles,  since  James  could  not  be  one  of 
the  Twelve  who  were  charged  with  the  general 
work  of  evangelization,  may  have  been  glad  for 
James  to  be  in  charge  at  Jerusalem.  Certainly  he 
proved  himself  fully  equal  to  the  task. 

James  maintains  the  position  of  leadership  in 
Jerusalem  throughout  the  narrative  in  Acts.  He  is 
evidently  the  President  of  the  Jerusalem  Confer- 

1  St.  Paul,  i.f  p.  233. 
1  Patrick,  op.  cit.,  p.  83. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD        35 

ence  (Acts  15: 14-21).  He  is  in  charge  of  the 
church  when  Paul  visits  Jerusalem  the  last  time 
(Acts  21:18):  "Paul  went  in  with  us  unto  James: 
and  all  the  elders  were  present."  He  possessed  the 
confidence  of  this  great  Jewish  church,  the  mother 
church  at  Jerusalem,  and  had  the  ear  of  the  non- 
Christian  Jewish  world  in  a  way  hardly  true  of  any 
other  disciple  of  Jesus.  Jews  would  listen  to  James 
who  would  not  heed  Simon  Peter. 

7.  The  Writing  of  the  Epistle. 

The  Epistle  of  James  was  probably  written  shortly 
before  the  Jerusalem  Conference,  most  probably  just 
before,  that  is,  about  A.  D.  48  or  49.  There  is  no 
room  here  for  an  extended  discussion  of  the  proof 
of  this  statement.  In  general  I  agree  with  the  argu- 
ments of  Mayor  on  this  point.1  Plummer2  is  unable 
to  decide  between  A.  D.  49  and  A.  D.  59.  Writers 
like  von  Soden  place  it  at  the  end  of  the  century, 
and  Bruckner  puts  it  in  the  second  century.  Spitta 
admits  that  Paul,  in  Romans,  alludes  to  the  Epistle 
of  James,  but  suggests  that  the  present  epistle  is  a 
Christian  adaptation  of  a  Jewish  book.  But  on  the 
whole  the  weight  of  the  argument  is  towards  the 
conclusion  that  James  wrote  the  Epistle  before  the 
Conference  and  without  reference  to  the  Judaizing^ 
controversy.  Paul,  in  Galatians  and  Romans,  may 
very  well  have  in  mind  a  misuse  of  what  James,  in 

1  See  his  Commentary  on  James  and  his  article  on  the  Epistle  in 
the  Hastings  D.  B. 

2  Epistle  of  James  (Exp.  Bible),  p.  6if.    See  also  Patrick,  op.  cit., 
chap.  v. 


36     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

chap.  2,  says  about  faith  and  works,  which  misap- 
prehension he  seeks  to  correct.  The  Epistle  must 
either  be  placed  between  40  and  50  A.  D.,  before  the 
Judaizing  controversy  arose,  or  in  the  middle  of 
the  second  century,  after  it  had  died  down.1  The 
early  date  has  the  best  of  it  in  my  opinion. 

If  this  date  for  the  writing  of  the  Epistle  be  cor- 
rect, we  have  no  difficulty  in  seeing  how  James  could 
have  written  it  so  early.  Already  about  A.  D.  44 
we  saw  his  leadership  in  the  Jerusalem  church  (Acts 
12:17).  No  man  in  the  apostolic  circles  at  this 
period  had  the  ear  of  the  Jewish  Christians  as  did 
James.  This  is  seen  further  in  the  fact  that  he  is 
asked  to  preside  over  the  Conference  in  Jerusalem 
to  settle  the  issues  raised  by  the  Judaizers  against 
the  work  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  among  the  Gentiles. 
The  Epistle,  therefore,  seems  to  come  in  at  this 
stage  of  the  career  of  James  and  is  the  chief  expres- 
sion left  of  his  mind  and  life. 

8.  Champion  of  Paul  at  the  Conference. 

I  cannot  enter  upon  a  formal  discussion  of  the 
many  questions  in  dispute  concerning  this  great 
event  in  the  apostolic  period.  I  can  only  briefly 
sketch  my  own  interpretation  of  the  part  played  by 
James  on  this  occasion.2  In  brief,  it  is  here  main- 
tained that  in  Gal.  2:  1-10  Paul  gives  a  report  of 
the  private  interview  with  the  leaders  in  Jerusalem 

1  Cf.  M.  Jones,  The  N.  T.  in  the  Twentieth  Century,  p.  321. 

2  For  a  fuller  presentation  of  the  matter  from  the  standpoint  of 
Paul,  see  my  Epochs  in  the  Life  of  Paul,  chap.  vii.  I  identify  the 
visit  to  Jerusalem  in  Gal.  2: 1-10  and  Acts  15,  in  spite  of  the  argu- 
ments of  Sir  W.  M.  Ramsay  to  the  contrary. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         37 

after  the  first  public  meeting  (Acts  i5:3f. ;  Gal. 
2:2)  was  adjourned  because  of  the  violent  opposi- 
tion of  the  Judaizers  (Acts  15:  5).  In  this  private 
conference  Paul,  though  anxious  to  win  the  public 
support  of  "James  and  Cephas  and  John,  the  re- 
puted pillars"  ('Ia/tw/Jof  Kal  Krjcpag  Kal  'Jcjdvrjg,  01 
doKovvreq  otvXol,  Gal.  2:9),  yet  was  not  willing 
to  compromise  the  great  issue  at  stake,  "our  liberty 
which  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus"  (2:4)  and  "the 
truth  of  the  gospel"  (2:5).  Paul  reveals  a  certain 
amount  of  embarrassment  in  his  references  to  the 
three  great  leaders  in  Jerusalem,  as  is  manifest  in 
the  long  and  broken  sentence  in  verses  6-10.  He 
roundly  asserts  his  independence  of  them  and  affirms 
that  they  imparted  nothing  to  him  (2:6).  It  seems 
clear  that  some  of  the  more  timid  brethren  were 
quite  disposed  to  surrender  to  the  Judaizers  for  the 
sake  of  peace  and  in  particular  to  agree  that  Titus, 
a  full-fledged  Greek  convert  in  Paul's  company,  should 
be  circumcised.  But  Paul  gave  "the  pillars"  to  under- 
stand that  he  would  not  have  peace  on  those  terms. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  James,  here  mentioned  be- 
fore Cephas  (Peter)  and  John  as  the  real  leader 
of  the  group,1  had  not  till  now  clearly  understood 
Paul's  true  position.  The  Judaizers  had  in  all 
probability  counted  on  James  to  take  their  side 
against  Paul,  "but  contrariwise,  when  they  saw2 
that  I  had  been  entrusted  with  the  gospel  of  the 
uncircumcision  as  Peter  with  the  gospel  of  the  cir- 


1  Cf.  Lightfoot  on  Galatians,  "St.  Paul  and  the  Three." 

2  rovvavriov  l66vTtc.    A  hint  that  they  had  not  always  seen  it  this 
way. 


38     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

cumcision — they  gave  to  me  and  Barnabas  the  right 
hands  of  fellowship,  that  we  should  go  unto  the 
Gentiles,  and  they  unto  the  circumcision"  (2:  7-9). 
It  is  much  easier  to  think  of  James  as  the  author  of 
chap.  2  in  his  Epistle  before  this  event  than  after 
this  pact  with  Paul.  Note  also  verse  9:  "And  when 
they  perceived  the  grace  that  was  given  unto  me."1 
Now  the  coast  is  clear  and  Paul  is  sure  of  victory  in 
the  open  Conference.  The  stipulation  about  the 
poor  (2:10)  was  in  harmony  with  Paul's  previous 
practice  (Acts  11 :  29L). 

In  the  second  meeting  of  the  general  Conference 
James  evidently  presides  and  sums  up  the  situation 
in  favor  of  Paul  after  Peter  (Acts  15:7-12)  has 
shown  how  they  had  already  agreed  to  Gentile 
liberty  in  the  case  of  Cornelius  and  his  household. 
James,  with  due  deliberation  (fiera  to  ovyr\oax  avroi^, 
15 :  13),  concludes  (15 :  14-21)  with  a  pointed  endorse- 
ment of  Simon  (ivfie&v,  verse  14,  a  Quaint  Hebraic 
touch)  Peter's  speech  and  acceptance  of  the  work  at 
Caesarea  and  among  the  Gentiles  generally  as  a  visi- 
tation of  God  (6  6sd$  eneaKe-ipaTO,  verse  14).  He 
clinches  the  whole  matter  by  showing  that  the 
prophets  (as  Amos  9:  nf.)  agree2  with  this  position 
that  the  Gentiles  are  to  be  saved.  "Wherefore  my 
judgment  is,"3  he  says  as  the  President  of  the  Con- 
ference, practically  offering  a  resolution  for  the  vote 
of  the  Conference,  "that  we  trouble4  not  them  that 

1  Kgu  yvdvrec  ri}v  %aptv  tt/v  dodeioav  pot,  as  if  a  new  experience  for  them. 

2  tovtu  avfi^uvovaiv  (15:15),  a  musical  word,  our  "symphony." 
8  (ho  i}(j  Kpivu. 

*  irapevoxfciv  is  from  napa,  h,  and  o^u  (from  *jAof,  a  crowd).    A 
crowd  may  be  a  great  annoyance. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         39 

from  among  the  Gentiles  turn  to  God."  He  has  put 
the  matter  in  a  very  happy  form.  Surely  Jewish 
Christians  could  but  rejoice  to  see  Gentiles  "turn 
to  God."  James  proposes  the  writing  of  an  epistle 
(kmorelXeu)  to  the  Gentile  Christians  to  this  effect 
with  the  added  warning  "that  they  abstain  from 
the  pollution  of  idols,  and  from  fornication,  and 
from  what  is  strangled,  and  from  blood."  It  is  at 
least  open  to  question  whether  "what  is  strangled" 
(icai  ttviktov)  is  genuine  here,  since  it  is  wanting  in 
D  (Codex  Bezae),  Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  and  Cyprian, 
as  also  in  15:28.  If  so,  the  prohibition  is  against 
idolatry  (idol-feasts),  murder  (blood),  and  immoral- 
ity (fornication),  the  great  vices  of  heathensim.1 
But  with  the  text  as  it  stands,  "things  strangled," 
we  seem  to  have  a  concession  to  the  Jewish  cere- 
monial law  and  to  Jewish  prejudices  on  that  point. 
James  is  not  uneasy  about  Moses,  for  he  is  read  in 
the  synagogues  every  Sabbath  (Acts  15:  21),  a  ref- 
erence to  the  habit  of  the  Christians  still  to  worship 
in  the  Jewish  synagogues  (cf.  James  2:2).  The 
"wisdom"  of  James  is  manifest  in  this  masterly  ad- 
dress, which  carried  conviction  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  resolution  of  James  was  carried  unanimously 
by  the  body  of  "the  apostles  and  the  elders,  with  the 
whole  church"  (15:  22),  a  remarkable  outcome,  when 
the  bitterness  of  the  Judaizers  is  considered,  and  a 
distinct  tribute  to  the  influence  of  James.  We  may 
assume  that  the  Judaizers  were  silent,  since  they 
saw  that,  they  were  hopelessly  defeated. 

1  Cf .  Wilson,  The  Origin  and  Aim  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
P-  53- 


40     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

The  epistle  which  was  sent  to  the  church  at 
Antioch  (15:23-29)  embodies  the  ideas  of  James 
and  was  probably  written  by  him,  since  the  style 
is  like  that  of  his  speech  and  the  Epistle  that  bears 
his  name.  The  letter  expressly  disclaims  responsi- 
bility for  the  conduct  of  the  Judaizers  at  Antioch 
(15:24),  pointedly  condemns  their  behavior,  com- 
mends "our  beloved  Barnabas  and  Paul"  (25!), 
refers  to  the  messengers  Judas  and  Silas,  claims  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  stand  for  Gentile 
freedom  (28),  and  repeats  the  stipulations  in  the 
speech  of  James  about  the  special  Gentile  sins  (29). 
There  can  be  no  question  that  James  here  entered 
fully  into  sympathy  with  the  contention  of  Paul 
that  the  yoke  of  Jewish  ceremonialism  should  not  be 
imposed  upon  the  Gentile  Christians.  James  is  a 
champion  of  the  Pauline  doctrine  of  "grace"  as 
opposed  to  "works."  It  is  interesting  to  note  the 
phrase  "the  perfect  law  of  liberty"  (James  1:25). 
It  is  difficult  to  see  how,  after  this  Conference,  James 
and  Paul  could  misunderstand  or  oppose  each  other. 
As  we  shall  see,  the  real  explanation  of  the  apparent 
conflict  between  James  2  and  Rom.  3  is  quite  other 
than  this  unnecessary  hypothesis.  James  has  now 
given  the  great  weight  of  his  character  and  influence 
among  the  Jewish  Christians  to  the  endorsement  of 
the  work  of  Paul  among  the  Gentiles.  James  is  a 
Jewish  Christian,  but  not  a  Judaizer.  He  does  not 
wish  to  impose  the  burden  of  the  Mosaic  ritual  upon 
the  Gentiles,  though  he  still  observes  it  himself,  as 
do  the  other  Jewish  Christians,  including  Paul  him- 
self. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         41 

9.  Misuse  of  the  Name  of  James. 

In  Gal.  2:11  Paul  speaks  of  a  visit  of  Peter  to 
Antioch,  apparently  some  time  after  the  events  re- 
corded in  2 :  1-10.  If  it  were  before  the  Conference, 
Peter's  conduct  at  Antioch  would  be  largely  relieved 
of  the  charge  of  cowardice.  But,  on  the  whole,  we 
must  follow  the  order  of  time  as  given  by  Paul.  We 
do  not,  however,  know  whether  this  visit  of  Peter 
was  before  the  breach  between  Paul  and  Barnabas 
over  John  Mark  (Acts  15 :  36-41)  or  after  the  return 
of  Paul  from  the  second  tour  (Acts  18:  22L).  If  the 
latter  is  true,  Barnabas  had  also  come  back  to  An- 
tioch (Gal.  2:13).  Patrick1  thinks  that  this  visit 
was  not  long  after  the  Conference,  probably  before 
the  breach  with  Barnabas.  At  any  rate,  Peter  at 
Antioch  practices  social  equality  with  the  Gentiles, 
just  as  Paul  and  Barnabas  and  the  rest  of  the  Jewish 
Christians  there  did  (Gal.  2:  13),  and  just  as  Peter 
did  in  the  house  of  Cornelius,  though  he  apologized 
for  the  act  then  (Acts  10:  28),  and  at  Jerusalem 
when  called  to  account  for  it  (n:  1-18).  Evidently 
the  question  of  social  equality  was  not  raised  in  the 
Conference  at  Jerusalem. 

"Certain  came  from  James"  (?rpd  tov  yap  eXdelv 
rivaq  and  'Iaicu)(3ov) ,  says  Paul  (Gal.  2:12).  Pat- 
rick2 admits  that  they  had  some  connection  with 
James  and  may  have  borne  a  commission  from 
James,  though  not  to  Peter.  It  is  possible,  of 
course,  that  rumors  of  Peter's  liberty  in  the  matter 
of  social  intercourse  may  have  reached  Jerusalem 

1  James  the  Lord's  Brother,  p.  188. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  191. 


42  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

(cf.  Acts  ii  :  iff.)  where  the  Pharisaic  element  in  the 
church  were  very  sensitive  on  this  point.  It  is  diffi- 
cult, however,  to  believe  that  James  would  have  felt 
called  upon  to  send  a  reprimand  to  Peter  on  the 
subject,  even  granting  that  James  opposed  this  con- 
duct of  Peter.  The  Judaizers  at  Antioch  seem  to 
have  claimed  the  sanction  of  James  and  the  rest  at 
Jerusalem  in  their  opposition  to  Paul  and  Barnabas 
(Acts  15:  i,  24L),  and  it  is  entirely  possible  that  on 
this  occasion  the  visitors  from  Jerusalem  claimed  a 
connection  with  James  that  was  not  true.  Hort1 
thinks  it  probable  that  James  merely  meant  "to 
send  cautions  to  Peter,"  with  no  thought  of  a  re- 
buke, and  that  the  messengers  took  the  matter  in 
their  own  hands  and  proceeded  to  frighten  Peter 
with  threats  of  a  report  to  James  about  his  conduct 
at  Antioch. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  horizon  of  Jeru- 
salem was  not  that  of  Antioch,  and  that  Paul  would 
have  less  sympathy  for  what  Peter  did  under  fear  of 
consequences  at  Jerusalem  than  for  James  in  Jeru- 
salem, who  might  not  fully  comprehend  develop- 
ments at  Antioch.  But  the  Epistle  of  James  and 
his  speech  at  the  Conference  make  me  slow  to 
believe  that  he  had  gone  over  to  the  position  of  the 
Judaizers,  as  Peter  did  at  Antioch.  Paul  boldly 
charged  Peter,  and  even  Barnabas,  not  with  a 
change  of  conviction,  but  with  hypocrisy  (Gal.  2: 
i3f.).  Fortunately,  it  was  only  a  temporary  lapse, 
and  both  step  back  to  the  side  of  Paul  in  his  cham- 
pionship of  a  gospel  of  equality  and  freedom  for  all. 

1  Judaistic  Christianity,  p.  81. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         43 

Paul  makes  no  formal  charge  against  James,  and, 
under  all  the  circumstances,  I  prefer  to  think  that 
James  has  been  misrepresented  at  Antioch  by  the 
visitors  from  Jerusalem,  who  dared  to  use  his  power- 
ful name  to  whip  Peter  into  line.  At  any  rate, 
James,  not  Peter,  seems  to  be  the  master  spirit  at 
Jerusalem,  as  Paul  is  at  Antioch. 

10.  Befriending  Paul  on  His  Last  Visit. 

Paul  came  to  Jerusalem  for  the  last  time  in  the 
spring  (probably  57  or  58)  with  a  heavy  heart.  He 
reveals  his  apprehensions  in  Rom.  15:31-33,  and  in 
his  address  at  Miletus  (Acts  20:  18-35).  He  has 
made  a  brave  fight  for  liberty  in  Christ  almost  all 
over  the  Roman  Empire,  but  the  Judaizers  have  not 
ceased  their  attacks  upon  him.  In  particular,  dur- 
ing his  long  absence  from  Jerusalem,  he  has  been 
grossly  misrepresented  there.  He  has  been  fre- 
quently warned  of  trouble  if  he  came,  but  he  is 
determined  to  come  in  the  hope  of  setting  matters 
right  in  Jerusalem  and  so  preventing  a  schism  in 
Christianity.  He  had  won  at  the  Conference  at 
Jerusalem  some  seven  or  eight  years  before.  Hort1 
thinks  that  Paul  entered  the  city  "with  much  pre- 
caution and  avoidance  of  observation"  under  the 
shelter  of  Mnason  (Acts  21:  16).  At  any  rate,  the 
brethren  received  him  gladly  (21:  17),  and  on  the 
next  day  Paul  made  a  formal  call  on  "James;  and 
all  the  elders  were  present"  (21 :  18).  So  here  James 
is  still  at  the  head  of  the  work  in  Jerusalem  as  at 
the  Conference.    The  apostles  were  present  then  as 

1  Judaistic  Christianity,  p.  106. 


44     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

they  seem  to  be  absent  now.  This  is  not  a  Con- 
ference, but  merely  a  friendly  meeting.  Paul's  re- 
hearsal of  his  work  among  the  Gentiles  meets  with 
the  most  cordial  expressions  of  satisfaction  (21:  20). 
Paul  is  among  his  friends,  who  tell  him  of  a  gross 
misrepresentation  of  his  position  that  is  current 
among  the  Jewish  Christians  at  Jerusalem  to  the 
effect  that  he  teaches  that  Jewish  Christians  must 
forsake  Moses  and  the  customs  of  the  law  (21 :  21).1 
They  do  not  believe  it  themselves,  and  only  wish  to 
help  Paul  clear  the  matter  up  without  interfering 
at  all  with  the  decision  of  the  Conference  about  the 
freedom  of  the  Gentiles  (21:  22-25).  They  suggest 
that  Paul  join  with  four  men  in  a  Nazirite  vow, 
pay  the  charges  for  their  purification  and  for  his 
own,  and  let  all  the  Jewish  Christians  see  him  in  the 
act  of  worship  and  ritual  observance  of  the  cere- 
monial law,  and  thus  prove  "that  thou  thyself 
also  walkest  orderly,  keeping  the  law"  (21:24). 
The  matter  seemed  simple  enough.  Paul  had  not 
opposed  the  observance  of  the  law  on  the  part  of 
Jewish  Christians.  Galatians  was  written  in  de- 
fense of  Gentile  liberty.  There  was  no  effort  to 
commit  Paul  to  the  necessity  of  the  law  for  salva- 
tion. As  a  matter  of  fact,  Paul  had  kept  up  his 
observance  of  the  Jewish  customs  save  as  they 
affected  separation  from  the  Gentiles.  So  Paul 
accepted  the  advice  and  made  the  offering,  "purify- 
ing himself  with  them"  (21:26).  Apparently,  the 
plan  succeeded  in  setting  Paul  right  with  the  mass 

1  This  "informing"  (KaT/jxt/fo/anv,  persistent  talking)  was  done  by 
the  Judaizers,  who  "dinned"  it  into  the  ears  of  the  people. 


JAMES,  THE  SERVANT  OF  GOD         45 

of  the  church  in  Jerusalem.  The  trouble  that  led 
to  his  arrest  arose  from  the  attack  of  some  Jews 
(not  Christians)  from  Ephesus,  who  accused  Paul  of 
defaming  the  temple  while  in  the  very  act  of  doing 
worship  in  the  temple.  We  do  not  know  whether 
the  plan  of  the  elders  was  the  plan  of  James.  Cer- 
tainly, if  he  had  disapproved,  he  would  have  spoken 
out,  as  the  meeting  was  at  his  house.  But  it  was 
all  meant  in  the  utmost  kindness  to  Paul,  and  it  is 
not  possible  to  show  that  it  was  unwise.  The  inci- 
dent shows  the  greatest  friendliness  between  Paul 
and  James,  and  the  frankest  recognition  on  Paul's 
part  of  the  great  worth  and  influence  of  James 
himself.  There  is  no  other  reference  to  James  in 
the  New  Testament  unless  it  appears  in  Heb.  13 : 
7,  17,  "them  that  have  the  rule  over  you." 

11.   The  Story  of  His  Death. 

Clement  of  Alexandria1  says  that  James  the  Just 
"was  thrown  from  the  gable  [of  the  temple],  and 
beaten  to  death  by  a  fuller  with  a  club."  Hegesip- 
pus2  gives  a  long  and  legendary  account  of  the  death 
of  James  to  the  effect  that  the  people  of  Jerusalem 
who  called  James  the  Just  were  so  enraged  when 
he  bore  witness  to  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  Man  that 
they  flung  him  down  from  the  gable  of  the  temple, 
stoned  him,  and  a  fuller  clubbed  him."  "And  they 
buried  him  on  the  spot  by  the  temple,  and  his 
monument  still  remains  by  the  temple." 

But    Josephus3    gives    an    entirely    different    and 

1  Hypotyp.  vii.  apud  Eusebius  H.  E.,  II.  I.  3. 

2  Also  preserved  in  Eusebius  H.  E.,  II.  xxiii.  4-18. 

3  Ant.  xx.  ix.  I.    It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Prof.  P.  C.  Burkitt, 


46     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

much  more  credible  narrative  of  the  death  of  James, 
placing  it  about  A.  D.  62  or  63.  He  charges  the 
Sadducees  through  the  high  priest  Ananus  with  the 
death  of  James  and  adds:  "Ananus,  therefore,  as 
being  a  person  of  this  character,  and  thinking  that 
he  had  a  suitable  opportunity,  through  Festus  being 
dead,  and  Albinus  still  on  his  journey  (to  Judaea), 
assembles  a  Sanhedrin  of  judges;  and  he  brought 
before  it  the  brother  of  Jesus  who  is  called  Christ 
(his  name  was  James)  and  some  others,  and 
delivered  them  to  be  stoned,  on  a  charge  of  being 
transgressors  of  the  law."  So  he  won  a  martyr's 
crown.  He  was  called  "the  Just"  (rdv  diicaiov).  He 
had  accused  the  wicked  rich  of  killing  "the  Righteous 
One"  (tyovevoare  tov  diicaiov,  James  5:6). 

of  Cambridge  University,  has  boldly  championed  the  genuineness  of 
Josephus's  testimony  to  Jesus. 


CHAPTER  II 

To  the  Twelve  Tribes  Which  Are  of  the 
Dispersion,     i  :  ib 

i.  Simple  Address. 

The  writer  is  wonderfully  simple  and  direct  in  his 
greeting  as  compared  with  Paul  in  Rom.  i:  1-7,  for 
instance.  There  is  no  principal  verb  and  the  nomi- 
native absolute  occurs  with  the  infinitive  ('IdKOifiog — 
xalpeiv),  as  is  so  common  in  the  letters  found  in 
the  papyri.1  Originally  a  word  like  '  'sends"  (emoreX- 
Xet)  may  have  been  used  also.  But  this  short  ad- 
dress is  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  businesslike 
character  of  James  and  the  pointed,  pungent  tone 
of  the  Epistle. 

2.  The  Readers. 

They  are  evidently  not  a  local  church.  "The 
twelve  tribes  of  the  Dispersion"  naturally  refers  to 
the  Jews  who  are  scattered  in  the  Gentile  world 
outside  of  Palestine.  The  technical  term  "Diaspora" 
(dtaoTropd,  from  SiaoTrelpeiv,  to  scatter)  occurs  in  only 
two  other  places  in  the  New  Testament  (John  7:35; 
1  Pet.  1:1).  In  John  the  word  has  its  usual  sig- 
nificance. The  Jewish  leaders  scoffed  at  Jesus  as  a 
failure  in  Palestine.  Perhaps  he  meant  to  go  and 
teach  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion.  The  term  "twelve 
tribes"  in  James  merely  means  the  Jews  as  a  whole 

1  Cf.  Qsuv — ^ai'pav,  P.  Oxy.  292,  circa  A.  D.  25. 

47 


48     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

in  the  Dispersion,  for  the  tribes  were  not  preserved 
in  a  distinctive  way  outside  of  Palestine.  The  "Lost 
Ten  Tribes"  evidently  had  no  significance  for  James. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  no  more  "lost"  than 
Judah  and  Benjamin.  The  Jews  of  Palestine,  after 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans,  were 
once  more  scattered  abroad  as  their  ancestors  had 
been  twice  before  to  mingle  as  "Jews"  in  various 
parts  of  the  world.  Doubtless  modern  Jews  are 
simply  a  blend  of  all  the  twelve  tribes.  At  the  time 
when  James  wrote  the  Jews  were  very  numerous  in 
all  the  great  commercial  centers  of  the  world,  such 
as  Alexandria,  Antioch,  Babylon,  Ephesus,  Miletus, 
Pergamum,  Rome,  Thessalonica.  But  it  is  more 
than  probable  that  James  has  in  mind  chiefly  the 
Eastern  Dispersion  in  Babylonia  and  Mesopotamia, 
as  Peter  (i  Pet.  1:1)  addressed  the  Western  Dis- 
persion. 

"But  was  James  writing  to  Jews  who  were  not 
Christians?  Was  he  making  an  appeal  to  the  non- 
Christian  Jews  of  the  Dispersion  to  become  Chris- 
tians? The  idea  is  not  without  fascination  in  itself. 
Dr.  J.  H.  Moulton1  contends  that  this  is  precisely 
what  James  has  done,  as  is  shown  by  the  avoidance 
of  specific  reference  to  Christ  and  to  the  cross  so  as 
not  to  give  offense  to  the  Jews  whom  he  wishes  to 
win.  Dr.  George  Milligan2  replies  that  it  is  not 
possible  to  think  of  "a  Christian  teacher  of  James's 
position  suppressing  his  distinctive  beliefs  under  any 
circumstances  whatsoever."     But  the  author  does 


1  The  Expositor,  VII.  iv.  p.  45  ff. 

2  The  N.  T.  Documents,  p.  112. 


TO  THE  TWELVE  TRIBES  49 

not  conceal  his  view  of  Jesus.  In  the  very  first 
verse  he  speaks  of  "the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and 
these  words  give  his  human  name  Jesus,  his  title 
Christ  (Messiah),  and  his  lordship  (deity).  Be- 
sides, in  2 :  1  James  speaks  of  Jesus  as  the  object  of 
faith,  and  so  of  worship,  as  Moffatt1  correctly  has  it : 
"As  you  believe  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the 
Glory."  See  also  5:7,  "until  the  coming  of  the 
Lord"  (cf.  5:8).  There  are  no  doctrinal  discussions 
of  the  Cross  and  the  Resurrection,  but  all  this  is 
distinctly  implied.  James  also  announces  himself  as 
a  Christian  in  1 :  1  and  could  not  wish  to  conceal  the 
gospel  if  he  meant  to  win  Jews  to  Christ.  Moreover, 
he  draws  a  distinction  between  the  Christians  ("ye") 
and  their  oppressors  ("they,"  apparently  rich  Jews) 
in  2  :  7  :  "Do  not  they  blaspheme  the  honorable  name, 
by  which  ye  are  called?"  That  "name"  is  the  name 
of  Christ.2  Cf.  also  2:6:  "Do  not  the  rich  oppress 
you,  and  themselves  drag  you  before  the  judgment 
seats?"  Besides,  James  claims  the  readers  as  be-  / 
lievers,  "my  brethren,"  in  2:1;  5 :  7f .  There  are, 
doubtless,  passages  where  James  pictures  unbeliev- 
ing Jews,  as  in  2:6f.,  just  mentioned,  and,  in  par- 
ticular, 5 :  1-6,  that  vivid  apostrophe  to  the  rich 
Jews  of  the  time. 

In  1  Peter  1:1  we  find  the  other  instance  of 
Diaspora  or  Dispersion.  Here  Peter  seems  to  mean 
by  "the  elect  who  are  sojourners  of  the  Dispersion 
in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia," 

1  A  New  Translation  of  the  N.  T.  Besides,  in  3:9  James  speaks 
of  "the  Lord  and  Father"  (God). 

2  Plummer,  Comm.,  p.  47. 


5o     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

not  merely  Jews  or  Jewish  Christians,  but  all  Chris- 
tians, whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  in  the  spiritual 
Dispersion,  "sojourners"  from  the  true  Palestine  or 
Promised  Land  (Heaven).  Is  this  the  idea  of  James? 
Zahn1  takes  this  position  and  finds  the  writer  ad- 
dressing Christians  in  general,  whether  Jews  or  Gen- 
tiles. 

But  surely  the  author  has  in  mind  simply  Chris- 
tian Jews  outside  of  Palestine.  The  use  of  the  word 
"synagogue"  as  a  place  of  worship  (2:2)  on  a  par 
with  "church"  (5:  14)  argues  for  this  interpretation. 
He  is  addressing  the  Christian  Jews,  who  now  have 
many  problems,  and  he  may  have  hoped  by  means 
of  these  believing  Jews  to  reach  the  wider  circle  of 
unbelieving  Jews.  He  speaks  of  Abraham  as  "our 
father"  (2:21).  He  assumes  that  for  his  readers  the 
Mosaic  law  is  still  binding  (2:  9- 1154:  11). 2 

3.  The  Occasion. 

This  we  do  not  know.  Unlike  most  of  Paul's 
Epistles,  there  are  no  personal  details.  We  are  left 
to  conjecture,  as  in  the  case  of  Jude  and  1  John. 
The  picture  drawn  in  the  Epistle  is  that  of  Jewish 
Christians  of  the  poorer  classes,  with  a  small  num- 
ber of  richer  brethren  (1:  10),  struggling  for  life  in 
the  midst  of  a  social  and  economic  environment 
that  was  utterly  unsympathetic,  not  to  say  hostile. 
The  process  of  adjustment  was  difficult  and  perilous. 
There  were  perils  to  the  individual  and  to  the 
church  life,  and  James  shows  real  mastery  of  the 

1  Einl.  i.  5,  6. 

2  Plummer,  Comm.,  p.  46. 


TO  THE  TWELVE  TRIBES  51 

situation  that  confronted  the  Jewish  Christians  in 
the  middle  of  the  first  century  in  the  scattered  re- 
gions where  they  are  found.  He  writes  to  them  in  a 
firm  tone,  but  with  manifest  understanding  and 
sympathy. 

4.  Character  of  the  Epistle. 

The  book,  small  as  it  is,  is  a  little  gem  in  concep- 
tion and  expression.  It  reminds  one  of  portions  of 
the  Book  of  Proverbs,  some  of  the  Psalms,  portions 
of  the  Prophets,  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  the  Wisdom 
of  Jesus  the  Son  of  Sirach,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 
Philo,  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  both  Paul  and  Peter  had  read  the 
Epistle  of  James,  at  least  there  are  several  coinci- 
dences between  them.  At  any  rate,  there  seems  to 
be  some  literary  connection  between  some  of  Paul's 
Epistles  (Rom.,  1  Cor.,  Gal.),  1  Peter  and  Hebrews, 
and  the  Epistle  of  James.  Some  contend  that  the 
Epistle  makes  use  of  these  N.  T.  books.  M.  Jones 
(N.  T.  in  Twentieth  Century,  p.  316)  thinks  that 
the  author  had  some  knowledge  of  the  Stoic  philoso- 
phers, but  this  could  have  come  through  Hellenistic 
Judaism,  as,  for  instance,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon 
and  Philo.  The  author,  as  already  shown,  writes  in 
the  smooth  and  easy  Koine  of  a  gifted  and  culti-^ 
vated  Jew  of  Palestine.  One  does  not  have  to  say 
with  Patrick1  that  James  "had  a  wide  knowledge  of 
classical  Greek."  He  may  never  have  read  a  line 
of  "classical"  Greek,  but  he  knew  well  the  current 
Greek  of  his  day  and  used  it  with  fine  skill.     It  is 

1  Op.  cit.,  p.  298. 


52     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

not  a  labored  production  and  is  in  no  sense  arti- 
ficial. The  author  is  full  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
writes  like  one  of  the  prophets,  and  yet  he  has  a 
firm  grip  upon  the  essence  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  book  forms  a  fine  link  between  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  New.  James,  the  brother 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  understands  the  Old  Testament 
and  loves  Moses  still.  He  seeks  to  interpret  Chris- 
tianity more  fully  on  its  ethical  and  social  side  to  the 
Jewish  Christians  of  his  time,  who  are  in  sad  need 
of  help,  beset  as  they  are  by  Jew  and  Gentile,  and 
with  an  imperfect  grasp  of  the  new  gospel.  They 
find  in  this  Epistle  just  what  they  need  to  make 
practice  correspond  to  profession,  to  square  life  with 
creed.  The  lesson  is  still  needed  to-day.  There  is  a 
peculiar  modernity  about  the  teaching  of  James  that 
appeals  to  modern  men.  who  are  nothing  if  not 
practical. 


CHAPTER  III 

Joy  in  Trial.     1:2-11 

Evidently  these  early  Jewish  Christians  had  their 
share  of  trial.  Who,  alas,  does  not  have  his  por- 
tion? The  problem  with  us  all  is  to  learn  how  to 
find  the  spring  of  joy  in  the  midst  of  sorrow,  to  be 
happy  while  we  carry  our  burden.  There  are  always 
perplexities  and  anxieties  without  number.  The  sea 
is  restless  even  in  its  moments  of  calm  beauty. 

1.  Variety  in  Trials.     1:2. 

There  is  the  tone  of  an  elder  brother  in  this  Epis- 
tle, and  we  see  it  at  the  start,  when  James  says  "my 
brothers"  (adeXcpot  fiov).1  It  is  no  perfunctory  phrase 
with  him.  It  is  "trials,"  not  "temptations,"  that 
James  here  has  in  mind,  though  the  same  word 
(neipaanog)  probably  means  temptation  in  1:12. 
The  word  in  the  Greek  came  to  have  either  sense 
though  originally  it  meant  only  to  try,  to  attempt, 
just  as  our  English  word  "tempt"  was  at  first 
simply  "try."  But  it  is  a  short  step  from  "try"  to 
"make  trial  of"  one  when  suspicion  exists  or  evil 
desire  arises.  Hence  all  through  the  Greek  we  find 
the  old  Greek  word  (ireipdopai)  used  in  both  senses. 
The  New  Testament  usage  varies.  There  are  a  half 
dozen   other    passages  where   the    word    (neiQaafio^) 

1  The  papyri  frequently  show  adetyoq  for  this  religious  community 
idea.    Cf.  Milligan,  Greek  Papyri,  pp.  22,  117. 

53 


54     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

has  the  idea  of  trial  (Luke  22 :  28;  Acts  20:  19;  Gal. 
4:  14;  1  Pet.  1:6;  4:  12;  Rev.  3:  10).  In  1  Pet.  1:  6 
the  identical  expression  "manifold  trials"  appears. 
Oesterley  (Expos.  Gk.  Test.)  wrongly  insists  that 
"temptation"  is  the  meaning  in  James  1 :  2  on  the 
ground  that  "the  writer's  Judaism  is  stronger  than 
his  Christianity,"  and  he  then  uses  it  as  an  argument 
against  the  genuineness  of  the  book.  A  soldier 
(Parry)  does  have  "true  joy"  in  victory  over  tempta- 
tion, like  Wordsworth's  Happy  Warrior,  but  that  is 
beside  the  mark  here.  There  is  no  conflict  here  with 
the  avoidance  of  temptation  urged  by  Jesus  (Matt. 
6:3;  Luke  11:4;  Matt.  26:  41 ;  Luke  22  :  40).  James 
refers  rather  to  external  trials  into  which  men  fall, 
trials  that  are  not  only  "unwelcome,"  but  also  "un- 
sought and  unexpected."1  It  is  almost  the  picture 
of  a  stumble  in  the  dark  when  one  finds  oneself  sur- 
rounded (negi — TreoTjre)  by  hostile  forces,  just  as  the 
poor  man  "fell  among  robbers"  (Xx/aralg  irepie-neoev, 
Luke  10:30). 

Besides,  one  may  be  surrounded  by  "all  sorts  of 
trials"  at  once  and  not  merely  "any  sort  of  trial" 
(Moffatt).  The  word  "manifold"  (ttoikIao^)  is  really 
many  colored,  variegated,  spotted,  mottled,  pied, 
dappled.  "It  never  rains  but  it  pours,"  we  say  at 
such  a  time.  The  same  word  (noiKiXog)  is  applied  to 
the  sicknesses  and  torments  of  body  and  mind  which 
Jesus  healed  (Matt.  4:24).  It  is  used  of  the  evil 
desires  that  lead  silly  women  astray  (2  Tim.  3  :  6),  of 
the  lusts  and  pleasures  which  once  the  Cretans 
served  (Titus  3:3),  of  the  variety  in  the  manifesta- 

1  Plummor,  op.  cit.,  p.  63. 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  55 

tion  of  God's  power  in  connection  with  the  gospel 
(Heb.  2:4),  of  the  many  sorts  of  strange  teachings 
then  afloat  (Heb.  13:9)  of  which  we  are  now  be- 
ginning to  learn  something  (incipient  Gnosticism  and 
the  early  stages  of  Mithraism,  for  example),  of  the 
many  trials  which  brought  sorrow  to  the  Christians 
(1  Pet.  1:6),  and  of  the  many  sides  to  the  grace  of 
God  (4:  10).  God  has  grace  for  every  trial  what-  s 
ever  its  color,  whether  black  or  blue,  yellow  or 
green,  red  or  crimson. 

The  way  to  face  them  all  is  with  joy  in  the  heart 
and  a  smile  on  the  face.  We  are  not  asked  to  rush,/ 
into  trials  and  to  make  mock-martyrs  of  ourselves. 
We  are  not  asked  to  rejoice  because  of  the  trials 
many  or  few.  Much  depends  on  how  we  treat 
(f]yrj07]ode)  the  problem  of  trial,  much  of  which  is 
beyond  our  control,  like  poverty  in  wisdom  (1:5) 
and  in  substance  (1:9)  and  like  persecution  (2 :  6f.). 
We  are  not  to  be  blind  to  facts  nor  to  submit  tamely 
to  what  can  be  cured  and  should  not  be  endured. 
James  is  not  a  Cynic  nor  a  Stoic,  but  a  victorious 
Christian  who  has  learned  the  lesson  that  thankful 
joy  is  easier  and  wiser  than  mere  dull  resignation 
(Plummer,  in  loco).  Each  trouble  may  be  met  by  a 
special  kind  of  joy  as  its  antidote.  The  common 
idea  about  "all  joy"  (ndaav  #apdv,  omne  gaudium)  is 
that  James  thereby  means  "pure  joy,"  nothing  but 
joy.  "Greet  it  as  pure  joy"  (Moffatt).  That  is  pos- 
sible, though  it  may  also  mean  "bring  to  bear  all 
that  joy  has  to  offer."  It  does  not  mean  (Mayor) 
that  all  of  joy  is  contained  in  this  view.  At  any 
rate,  it  is  much  to  know  that  joy  in  suffering  is  pos- 


V 


56     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

sible,  as  many  saints  can  testify  who  have  reached 
the  pure  air  of  fellowship  with  Jesus  in  suffering 
(cf.  Phil.  3:10),  the  Brother  of  James,  and  of  all 
who  suffer,  wfyo  said:  "Blessed  are  they  that  have 
been  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake:  for  theirs 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  ye  when 
men  shall  reproach  you,  and  persecute  you,  and 
say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my 
sake.  Rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad;  for  great  is 
your  reward  in  heaven :  for  so  persecuted  they  the 
prophets  that  were  before  you"  (Matt.  5:  10-12). 
This  is  part  of  the  fellowship  of  Christ  and  of  the 
saints,  the  "Sunshine  Band"  of  those  who  have 
learned  to  smile  in  the  midst  of  tears  like  the  sun- 
shine in  the  rain.  .Paul  was  able  to  say:  "But  we 
also  rejoice  in  our  tribulations"  (Rom.  5:3).  This 
is  not  the  joy  of  the  fanatic  nor  of  the  fakir  nor  of 
the  rhapsodist.  It  is  the  joy  of  the  soul  that  is  at 
peace  with  God  in  Christ  and  has  also  more  than 
earth  and  hell  can  take  away,  the  peace  that  passeth 
all  understanding.  The  disciples  rejoiced  "that  they 
were  counted  worthy  to  suffer  dishonor  for  the 
Name"  (Acts  5:41).  Even  Marcus  Aurelius  said: 
"Say  not  that  that  which  hath  befallen  thee  is  bad 
fortune,  but  that  to  endure  it  nobly  is  good  fortune." 

2 .  The  Product  of  Trial.     1:3. 

The  rule  of  Christian  joy  thus  expounded  stands 
the  test  of  experience.  The  word  "knowing"  (ytvo>- 
okovtfx;)  is  the  one  used  for  experimental  knowledge 
as  opposed  to  mere  intellectual  apprehension.  The 
tense  (present  participle)  expresses  continuous  ac- 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  57 

quisition  of  fresh  knowledge  from  experience.  It  is 
the  school  of  life  where  we  learn  most  of  what  we  ~ 
really  know.  The  position  of  James  is  thus  in  ' 
thorough  harmony  with  psychology.  The  command 
to  rejoice  in  the  midst  of  manifold  trials,  paradoxical 
though  it  seems,  is  one  that  the  Jewish  Christians 
knew  to  be  true  from  their  experience  of  grace. 
Johnstone1  has  a  fine  word:  ' 'Affliction  lets  down  a 
blazing  torch  into  his  own  nature— and  he  sees 
many  things  which  he  little  expected  to  see."  One 
qf  the  marvels  of  modern  science  is  the  use  of  elec- 
tric light  by  divers  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  to  take 
pictures  of  sea  life. 

It  is  the  biological  conception  that  James  has  in 
mind.  The  law  of  life  (nature  and  grace)  works 
through  personal  experience  and  not  by  mechanical 
impartation.  What  do  we  learn  by  experience? 
"That  the  proving  of  your  faith  worketh  patience." 
MofTatt  has  it:  "That  the  sterling  temper  of  your 
faith  produces  endurance."  The  notion  is  plainly 
that  of  testing  (to  8oki\iiov  t%  moTeug).2  See  the 
same  phrase  in  i  Pet.  1:7.  Thus  James,  as  Paul, 
regards  faith  as  "the  very  foundation  of  religion" 
(Mayor).  The  verb  (doMpitfw)  from  which  the  ad- 
jective (doKiiiioq)  is  derived  is  common  enough  for 


1  Lectures  on  the  Ep.  of  James,  p.  73. 

2  Deissmann,  Bible  Studies,  pp.  259  f.,  makes  it  plain  that  to 
6on6fiiov  is  just  the  neuter  singular  adjective  used  with  the  article 
as  an  abstract  substantive  idea.  See  Prov.  27:21,  font/uov  apyvpu. 
Other  examples  occur  in  the  papyri  (Moulton  and  Milligan,  Lexical 
Notes  from  the  Papyri,  Expositor,  December,  1908,  p.  566)  and 
Dittenberger,  Syll.,  588  96.  149,  "gives  us  from  ii/B.  C.  dont/xeiov,  a 
noun  meaning  crucible,  which  is  found  in  the  LXX." 


58     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

testing  a  yoke  of  oxen  (Luke  14:  19),  the  spirits 
(1  John  4:1),  work  by  fire  (1  Cor.  3:  13),  genuine- 
ness of  love  (2  Cor.  8:  8),  all  things  (1  Thess.  5 :  21). 
Peter  (1  Pet.  1:7)  explains  the  adjective  by  the  verb 
(tested  by  fire).  Cf.  Sirach  2:5:  "For  gold  is  tried  in 
the  fire,  and  acceptable  men  in  the  furnace  of  adver- 
sity." One  is  reminded  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
"By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them"  (Matt.  7 :  16). 

Patience  {vttojiovti)  is  patientia  (patior),  and  is 
called  by  Philo  the  queen  of  the  virtues.  The  Jews 
(Oesterley,  in  loco)  had  had  ample  need  of  this 
virtue  in  their  checkered  history.  It  is  just  the 
opposite  of  the  "super-man"  of  Nietzsche,  the 
triumph  of  might  over  right,  the  will  to  get  what 
one  wishes  right  or  wrong.  There  is  inevitable  con- 
flict between  selfish  militarism  and  Christianity.  It 
is  a  pity  that  Christians  have  left  it  to  Socialists  to 
make  the  most  vigorous  protest  against  war.  But, 
alas,  both  Christians  and  Socialists  are  swept  under 
by  the  vortex  of  war  nolens  volcns.  And  yet  by  pa- 
tience James  does  not  mean  inertia  or  lack  of  ambi- 
tion. It  is  not  complacent  self-satisfaction,  but  the 
triumph  of  regulated  consideration  of  the  welfare  of 
others,  the  victory  of  love  over  greed,  the  joy  of 
doing  without  that  others  may  be  happy,  the  happi- 
ness of  enduring  ill  for  the  sake  of  Jesus.  It  is  very 
hard  to  remain  under  (vno — jusvw)  misfortune,  when  it 
cannot  be  helped.  James  does  not  mean  that  we  are 
not  to  try  to  cure  any  of  the  ills  of  life,  not  to  over- 
come ignorance,  poverty,  disease,  crime.  There  is 
here  no  surcease  for  the  war  on  the  evil  conditions  of 
modern  life  in  home  or  city  or  state.     But  many 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  59 

things  cannot  be  changed.  Others  will  be  alleviated 
by  and  by.  Meanwhile  the  Christian  can  rise  to  the 
height  of  patience,  of  cheerful,  joyful  patience.  It 
is  the  practice  of  cheerfulness  that  we  so  much 
stand  in  need  of.  We  do  not  have  to  shut  our  eyes 
to  the  facts  of  life  and  of  the  human  reason  and  deny 
the  existence  of  sin  and  sickness.  We  can  conquer 
the  bitter  results  of  these  evils  by  the  joy  in  Christ 
that  drives  away  despair. 

This  patience  is  the  product  (icaTepydfrTaL)  of  trial. 
We  are  not  born  with  a  supply  of  patience.  It  is  not 
bestowed  in  fulness  upon  us  at  the  new  birth.  Like 
the  manna,  we  need  a  fresh  supply  each  morning. 
But  the  habit  of  mind  termed  patience  is  gradually 
wrought  in  us  by  the  discipline  of  experience.  Bit- 
terness is  a  possible  fruit  of  sorrow  and  hard  ex- 
periences. Bitterness  is  written  all  over  some  sad 
faces.  That  terrible  calamity  can  be  missed,  will  be 
missed,  if  one  walks  in  the  way  of  him  who  said:. 
"Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon 
you,  and  learn  of  me;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart:  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.  For 
my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light"  (Matt. 
n:28f.).  It  may  not  be  easy  and  light  at  first, 
but  it  becomes  so  in  the  presence  of  Jesus. 

Nobly  does  Wordsworth  interpret  it  for  us  all: 

"Who,  doomed  to  go  in  company  with  pain, 
And  fear  and  bloodshed,  miserable  train! 
Turned  his  necessity  to  glorious  gain; 
In  face  of  these  doth  exercise  a  power 
Which  is  our  human  nature's  highest  dower; 


60     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

Controls  them  and  subdues,  transmutes,  bereaves 
Of  their  bad  influence,  and  their  good  receives." 

3.  Perfection  by  Patience.     1:4. 

There  is  no  other  way  than  the  slow  way  of  life. 
The  mushroom  springs  up  in  a  night  and  goes  as 
quickly  away.  The  oak  grows  a  few  inches  a  year 
and  lasts  for  centuries.  The  finest  product  in  God's 
garden  is  the  soul  of  man  ripe  with  the  long  years  of 
toil  and  sorrow.  Luther  Burbank  has  learned  some 
of  the  witchery  of  nature  by  watching  her  ways  with 
plant-life.  He  has  shown  great  patience  and  has 
much  to  show  for  it.  Give  patience  a  chance  to  do 
its  work  (£%er(o)  and  keep  on  giving  it  a  fair  show. 
Ole  Bull  said  that  if  he  missed  practising  on  his  vio- 
lin one  day  he  noticed  the  difference  in  his  playing. 
If  he  missed  two  days,  other  musicians  noticed  it. 
If  he  skipped  three  days,  all  the  world  knew  it. 
"Only,  let  your  endurance  be  a  finished  product" 
(Moffatt).  It  comes  to  that  in  all  great  achieve- 
ments, for  the  test  is  endurance.  The  goal  is  at  the 
end  (reXog)  of  the  race  where  Jesus  is  the  author  and 
finisher  (dp^ydv  nai  reXeitoTriv)  of  the  faith  which  we 
possess  (Heb.  12:  2).  "We  are  become  partakers  of 
Christ,  if  we  hold  fast  the  beginning  (ttjv  dpxvv)  of 
our  confidence  firm  unto  the  end"  (pegpi  r^ovg,  Heb. 
3:  14).  "But  he  that  endureth  to  the  end  (6  imo- 
fieivag  elg  rekog),  the  same  shall  be  saved"  (Matt. 
24:  13). 

So  patience  calls  for  courage.  Discouragement 
leads  to  impatience  and  failure.  There  is  need  of 
long-suffering  (iiaKpo-dv/iia) ,  Col.  1:11  if  we  get 
"the  finished  product"  (fyyov).    The  word  for  "per- 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  61 

feet"  here  (reXeiog)  occurs  also  in  James  1:17,  25; 
3:2.  The  word,  like  the  substantive  (reXog),  has  a 
double  usage  (cf.  finis  and  our  end),  either  limit  or 
aim.  So  the  perfect  (reXeiog)  man  may  be  regarded 
in  the  absolute  sense,  the  limit,  as  the  Perfect  Man 
Christ  Jesus  (Eph.  4:  13),  or  as  on  the  way  to  the 
goal  (no  longer  a  child,  vrjmog,  but  a  developed  man,1 
as  in  1  Cor.  2:6;  Phil.  3 :  15.  "The  perfect"  (1  Cor. 
13:  10)  is  still  to  come,  but  there  is  "perfect  love" 
(1  John  4:  18).  We  are  to  aim  after  the  perfection 
of  God  himself  (Matt.  5:48).  Paul's  ambition  was 
to  present  each  one  "perfect  in  Christ  Jesus"  (Col. 
1 :  28).  Cf.  also  Col.  4:  12.  Here  James  has  his  eye 
on  the  goal  which  is  at  the  end  of  the  long  road. 
He  knows  full  well  (3:2)  that  in  many  things  we  all 
stumble,  but  we  must  persevere.  Patience  must  do 
its  "perfect  work"  (reXuov  epyov),  that  ye  may  be 
"perfect"  (riXeioi). 

But  James  takes  a  latitudinal  look  at  the  work  of 
patience,  not  merely  the  longitudinal  view,  that  ye 
may  be  "entire,  lacking  nothing"  (oXokXtjooi,  tv  urjdevi 
Xenrofievoi) ,  "complete,  with  never  a  defeat"  (Mof- 
fatt).  This  word  for  entire  (cf.  integer)  means  com- 
plete in  all  its  parts,  whole,  not  unsound  anywhere. 
At  the  end  of  the  race  we  are  to  be  fully  developed 
and  sound  to  the  core  in  heart  and  limb.  The  word 
is  used  of  stones  untouched  by  a  tool  (Deut.  27:  6), 
of  a  body  without  blemish.  Epictetus  (Bk.  Ill, 
chap,  xxvi,  §  25)  uses  the  word  of  a  vessel  which  one 
finds  "whole"  or  unbroken  and  "useful"  (oicevog  y,iv 

1  Epictetus  likewise  uses  releioq  in  contrast  with  fieipaniov  (Ench. 
Li.  §l):  ovk  eti  si  fteipaKiov,  aXka  avf/p  //<!//  rt/letoc. 


62     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

oXdnXripov  Kal  ^p?7<rt/zov) .  It  is  used  of  a  complete  or 
unbroken  household  in  the  papyri  (dXoKX-qpov  oltciag, 
B.  M.  Ill,  p.  30,  iii/A.  D.).  Philo1  uses  both  words 
together  as  James  does  here.  The  substantive  (6X0- 
kXtjpio)  is  used  of  "the  perfect  soundness"  of  the  man 
just  healed  by  Peter  and  John  (Acts  3:  16).  This 
adjective  occurs  with  "righteousness"  (duccuoovvjj, 
Wisd.  15:13)  and  "worship"  or  "religion"  (evoefieca, 
4  Mace.  17).2  The  adjective  is  used  by  Paul  in 
his  prayer  for  the  Thessalonians  (1  Thess.  5:23), 
"preserved  entire  {oXokX^qov)  without  blemish"  (dne/nr- 
Tog).  This  is  what  Jesus  does  for  his  glorious 
church,  which  is  to  be  "without  spot  or  wrinkle  or 
any  such  thing"  (Eph.  5:27).  Jesus,  our  High 
Priest,  "has  perfected  (TereXeiuitev)  forever  them 
that  are  sanctified"  (roi)g  ayia^o^vovg,  Heb.  10:  14). 
Israel,  alas,  Isaiah  (1:6)  found  wholly  wanting  in 
this  "soundness."  James'  ideal  is  that  we  shall  fall 
short  (Xei-ndnevoi,  be  left)  in  nothing.  Our  destiny 
is  to  dwell  in  the  family  of  God  and  to  be  like  Jesus, 
our  Elder  Brother  (1  John  3:2).  This  ultimate 
divine  fulness  is  not  the  self-sufficiency  (avTdpKeta)  of 
the  Stoics. 

4.  Shortage  in  Wisdom.     1:5. 

"Defective  in  wisdom,"  Moffatt  puts  it.  It  is  the 
same  word  (Xei-rreTai)  that  occurs  at  the  end  of  verse 

1  de  Abr.  47,  p.  8,  o  fiev  yap  rtleioc  oMK?.ripo(  ff  apxvs,  "der  ganze 
reife  Mensch,"  Windisch,  Handbuch  zum  N.  T.,  p.  5. 

2  "The  6%6nfa/pof  is  one  who  has  persevered,  or  who,  having  once 
lost,  has  now  regained  his  completeness:  the  riXeioc  is  one  who  has 
attained  his  moral  end,  that  for  which  he  was  intended,  namely,  to 
be  a  man  in  Christ"  (Trench,  Synonyms  of  the  N.  T.,  Eleventh 
Ed.,  p.  77). 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  63 

4  and  is  used  with  the  ablative  case  (oo<plag).1  James 
is  fond  of  catching  up  a  preceding  word  and  going 
on  with  it,  even  if,  as  here,  in  a  new  sense.  "If  any- 
one of  you  lacketh  wisdom,"  James  gently  hints. 
Who  is  it  that  does  not  feel  his  shortcoming  here,  at 
times  with  painful  intensity? 

What  does  James  mean  by  wisdom  {oo<pia,  sapien- 
tia)  ?  It  is  more  than  knowledge  (yvtioig,  or  even  k-ni- 
yvuxng).  It  is  more  than  mere  intelligent  apprehen- 
sion (avveoig)  of  acquired  knowledge.  Tennyson 
says:  "Knowledge  comes,  but  wisdom  lingers." 
James  shows  familiarity  with  the  Wisdom  of  Jesus, 
the  Son  of  Sirach  (Ecclesiasticus)2  and  possibly  also 
the  so-called  Wisdom  of  Solomon.  Certainly  he 
knows  the  Book  of  Proverbs.  But  he  here  uses 
wisdom,  not  in  a  philosophical  or  mystical  sense. 
With  James  wisdom  is  the  right  use  of  one's  oppor- 
tunities in  holy  living.  It  is  living  like  Christ  in 
accord  with  the  will  of  God.  In  3 :  13-17  he  gives  a 
formal  discussion  of  the  two  sorts  of  wisdom.  Bede 
suggests  that  we  need  wisdom  to  know  how  to  look 
at  trial  in  the  true  light.  Yes,  and  to  give  patience 
the  chance  to  do  its  perfect  work.  Paul  uses  wisdom 
in  the  special  sense  of  God's  wisdom  as  shown  in 
the  gospel  as  infinitely  superior  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
world  which  scouted  the  Cross  of  Christ.  "We  speak 
wisdom  among  the  perfect"  (the  mature,  1  Cor. 
2:7).  In  the  Old  Testament  wisdom  is  sometimes 
the  Intelligence  of  God  (Prov.  8:22-30).  "Ten 
measures  of  wisdom  came  down  from  heaven,  and 

1  Cf.  Vulgate  indiget  sapientia. 

*  See  Plummer,  Comm.,  pp.  72f.,  for  proof. 


64     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

nine  of  them  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Holy  Land" 
(Kiddushim,  49b).  With  James  the  source  of  wis- 
dom is  God,  not  the  Jews.  So  then,  when  our  sup- 
ply runs  short,  ask  of  God  (aiTeiru)  napa  tov  deov).  It 
is  like  a  bank  to  which  we  go  to  get  money.1  God 
is  the  Banker  whose  supply  of  wisdom  never  gives 
out.  Unlike  other  bankers,  he  asks  no  security  save 
the  name  of  Jesus.2  That  name  gives  us  full  credit 
at  the  Bank  of  Heaven.  On  that  basis  God  "gives 
to  all  men  without  question  or  reproach"  (Moffatt). 
"Liberally"  (anXug)  we  have  it  in  the  standard  ver- 
sions. It  is  a  rather  difficult  word  to  translate  into 
English.  It  means  simple,  single-fold,  sincere.  Com- 
pare the  "single"  eye  in  Matt.  6:22;  Luke  11:34- 
In  Rom.  12 :  8  it  is  not  clear  whether  "singleness"  or 
"liberality"  is  the  idea,  but  "liberality"  is  obviously 
correct  in  2  Cor.  8:  2,  "the  riches  of  their  liberality." 
So  in  9:  ii,  13,  but  "singleness  of  heart"  in  Eph. 
6:5;  Col.  3 :  22.  Oesterley  finds  the  notion  of  James 
to  be  "singleness  of  aim,  the  aim  being  the  impart- 
ing of  benefit  without  requiring  anything  in  return." 
Likewise  Bengel  interprets  it  by  simpliciter.  Either 
idea  makes  good  sense,  for  surely  God  gives  to  us  all 
with  singleness  of  purpose  and  also  with  wealth  of 
liberality.  Certainly  it  is  without  bargaining  on 
God's  part,  for  there  is  no  idea  of  reciprocity. 
"Without  question"  (Moffatt)  suggests  an  under- 
standing with  God,  which  is  true.    It  is  the  normal, 


1  Note,  na/ja,  by  the  side  of,  a  personal  plea. 

2  The  late  Mr.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  testified  before  a  committee  of 
the  U.  S.  Senate  that  he  loaned  money  primarily  on  character,  not 

financial  ability. 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  65 

natural  thing  for  a  child  of  God  to  do,  to  come  to 
God  and  ask  of  him,  for  he  "upbraideth  not"  (p) 
dvetdifrvTog) .  A  fool  upbraids,  the  Son  of  Sirach 
says  (Ecclus.  20:15).  Instead  of  upbraiding  us  for 
asking,  the  rather  we  are  made  to  wonder  why  we 
did  not  ask  sooner.  God  does  not  chide  us  for  our 
folly,  but  gives  us  good  measure  of  wisdom  to  take 
its  place.  This  is  the  literal  truth,  as  many  self- 
confessed  fools  of  the  world  are  glad  to  testify. 
They  have  left  the  folly  of  a  worldly,  selfish,  sinful 
life  for  the  rich  joy  of  the  service  of  God  in  Christ. 
The  change  may  come  in  a  moment,  for,  after  all, 
this  new  view  of  life  and  the  power  to  live  it  may 
be  had  for  the  asking.  "And  it  shall  be  given  him." 
It  will  be  given  on  request,  with  no  other  identifica- 
tion than  the  sinner's  plea  who  comes  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  the  open  sesame  to  the  treasures  of  heaven, 
himself  the  wisdom  of  God  (1  Cor.  1:30)  in  whom 
are  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge 
hidden  (Col.  2:3).  God  does  ask  of  us  that  we  use 
this  wisdom  for  his  glory  and  for  the  blessing  of 
other  lives,  the  enrichment  of  other  hearts. 

5.  Doubting  Prayer.     1 :  6-8. 

Jesus  (Matt.  7 :  7f.)  had  urged  the  disciples  to  ask 
with  the  promise  that  God  would  answer. 

There  is  a  condition  attached  to  the  wide-open 
invitation  in  James  1:5.  It  is  faith.  "But  let  him 
ask  in  faith,"  James  adds.  By  faith  (ttIgtic;)  James 
means,  not  a  body  of  doctrine,  but  trust  in  God,  a 
working  confidence  in  God  that  leads  him  to  ask 
and  to  expect  to  receive  what  he  asks.    It  is  certain 


66     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

that  God  does  not  answer  some  prayers,  at  least 
not  in  the  way  expected.  Some  requests  ought  not 
to  be  granted,  ought,  in  fact,  never  to  be  made. 
Prayer  may  be  very  foolish  as  well  as  very  wise. 
God  does  not  offer  to  grant  every  whim  of  a  spoilt 
and  petulant  child.  But,  assuming  that  one  is 
asking  for  wisdom,  which  surely  is  a  proper  prayer 
for  anyone  to  make,  even  so  he  may  miss  it  because 
he  does  not  exercise  wisdom  in  the  asking.  He 
must  not  chill  the  ardor  of  his  desire  by  hesitation 
and  doubt.  Let  him  ask,  "nothing  doubting" 
(fiTjdev  6iaKgt,v6iievoq) .  To  doubt  is  to  have  a  divided 
(did)  mind,  that  draws  him  two  ways,  like  the  poor 
donkey  that  starved  because  he  could  not  choose 
between  the  two  stacks  of  hay.  Such  a  man  is  like 
a  wave1  of  the  sea  (nXvduvt,  daXdooqg,  fluctui  maris), 
one  of  the  most  transitory  things  imaginable,  driven 
by  the  wind  (dveiMfyfiivu,  extritisecus,  Bengel  adds), 
and  tossed  into  sea  foam  (white-caps)  as  if  blown 
by  a  fan  or  bellows  (ptm^ofxivoi,  from  pirn?,  fan  or 
bellows),  a  veritable  "brain-storm"  of  perplexity  and 
indecision. 

God  does  answer  prayer,  but  not  the  prayer  of  a 
man  like  that  (tKelvo^)  who  insults  the  giver  of 
whom  he  asks  a  favor.  Timid  faith  is  quite  another 
thing.  That  Jesus  honored  in  the  case  of  the  father 
who  first  said:  "But  if  thou  canst  do  anything" 
(Mark  9:22).  Jesus  rebuked  him  for  his  "if  thou 
canst"  (to  el  dvvq).  Then  the  anxious  father  cried: 
"I   believe;  help  thou  mine  unbelief."     There  are 

1  "Like  a  cork  floating  on  the  wave,  now  carried  towards  the  shore, 
now  away  from  it"  (Mayor). 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  67 

many  difficulties  in  the  way  of  trust  in  God  to-day. 
Science  has  left  many  minds  groping  in  the  dark 
without  God,  feeling  after  him  if  haply  they  may 
find  him,  not  knowing  that  he  is  nigh  to  each  of  us. 
We  do  not  have  an  absentee  God.  He  can  and  does^ 
hear  the  cry  of  his  children  for  help.  If  5  0  S  can 
find  a  response  over  the  wind  and  the  wave  to  the 
call  of  the  sinking  ship,  surely  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  Father  of  our  spirits  will  hear  our  call  to  him. 
So  it  will  be,  "if  ye  have  faith  and  doubt  not" 
(Mv  nianv  sxVT£  nal  fir)  diaKpidrjire) ,  almost  the  very 
words  used  by  James.  Jesus  had  to  rebuke  his 
disciples  for  their  lack  of  faith  (Matt.  8:  26)  when 
they  thought  they  were  perishing  from  wind  and 
wave.  And  Simon  Peter  doubted  after  he  began  to 
walk  on  the  water  and  began  at  once  to  sink.  "O 
thou  of  little  faith  (oXiyomoTs),  wherefore  didst  thou 
doubt?"  (edioraoas)  says  Jesus  to  Peter  (Matt.  14: 
31).  Peter  had  a  divided  mind.  "Let  not  that 
man  think  that  he  shall  receive  anything  of  the 
Lord."  He  does  not  expect  anything  and  he  is  not 
disappointed.  What  a  commentary  is  this  sentence 
upon  the  half-hearted  praying,  the  lack  of  interest, 
the  worldly-minded  passive  worship  of  many  mod- 
ern Christians.  There  is  no  wrestling  with  God  in 
prayer  for  victory. 

"Double-minded  creature  that  he  is,  wavering  at 
every  turn"  (Moffatt).  The  double-minded  man  (dt- 
ifivxog)  is  like  the  two-faced  man  (Mr.  Facing  Both 
Ways).  Sirach  (2:  13)  speaks  of  the  sinner  coming 
to  two  paths  and  unable  to  choose.  Such  a  man 
perishes  at  the  cross-roads.     Of.  James  4 :  8  for  the 


68     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

only  other  use  of  the  word  in  the  N.  T.,  though  com- 
mon enough  elsewhere.  Such  indecision  goes  into 
duplicity,  as  Jesus  shows  about  the  evil  eye  and  the 
single  eye  (Matt.  6:  2  2f.).  It  is  a  miserable  life,  as 
anyone  knows  who  leads  a  double  life.  The  double 
heart  leads  to  the  double  life  with  its  pretended 
double  standard  of  morals.  Clement  of  Rome1  says : 
"Wretched  are  the  double-minded,  who  doubt  in 
their  heart."  No  wonder  he  becomes  "unstable  in 
in  all  his  ways"  (anaTdoTarog  ev  -ndoaig  ralg  odolg  avrov), 
not  able  to  stand  in  all  his  goings.  He  wobbles  and 
finally  reels  like  a  drunken  man.  Such  inconstancy2 
winds  up  in  hypocrisy  or  abandonment  to  sin.3 

6.  The  Democracy  of  Faith.     1:9-11. 

James  returns  to  the  keynote  of  "all  joy"  (verse  2) 
and  uses  the  word  "glory"  (icavxdodcS).  The  positive 
note  of  exultation  is  the  mark  of  the  true  Christian 
against  the  double-minded  man.  The  pessimist  is 
not  a  representative  of  Christianity.  The  true  op- 
timist is  not,  however,  blind  to  the  facts  of  life.  He 
can  glory  in  God  in  the  midst  of  all  sorts  of  trials 
and  conditions,  whether  in  high  or  low  estate.  His 
joy  is  independent  of  earthly  estate.  The  Cotter's 
Saturday  Night  may  be  as  happy  as  the  one  in  the 
Castle  near  by.  Class  distinctions  are  no  cause  for 
pride  in  a  spiritual  democracy  like  the  church  of 

1  Ta?iai7vui><H  naiv  ol  diijmxoi,  ol  diora^ovTet;  ry  KUfji)ia.  Cf.  Resch, 
Agrapha,  p.  325  (second  ed.). 

2  Bengel  gives  inconstans. 

3  The  faithless  lover  is  called  anaraoirig  evperfc  in  the  Erotic  Frag- 
ment G.  1  (ii/B.  C.)  A  leaden  tablet  (Audollent,  no.  4  bi2)  speaks 
of  one,  tuv  rtjv  o'ikiov  fiov  antiTaoraTov  notovvra. 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  69 

Jesus  Christ.  We  need  in  Christianity  no  "princes 
of  the  church"  in  the  Roman  Catholic  sense.  Pride 
of  rank  among  the  Twelve  Disciples  was  a  source  of 
grief  to  Jesus.  The  rich  and  the  poor  are  one  in 
Christ  Jesus  and  all  are  poor  miserable  sinners  saved 
by  grace. 

Johnstone  (Lectures  on  James,  p.  88)  calls  this 
section  "Rich  Poor  and  Poor  Rich").  That  is  true 
and  is  the  probable  interpretation  here.  The  hum- 
ble (Ta-neivos)1  brother  may,  after  all,  be  the  richest 
man  in  the  church,  rich  in  grace,  in  love,  in  joy,  in 
peace,  in  righteousness,  in  fellowship.  This  is  "his 
high  estate"  (tv  tw  vxpet) ,  which  rises  sheer  above 
hovel  or  palace.  Thank  God  that  this  infinite 
wealth  of  the  spirit  is  still  open  to  the  poor  all  over 
the  world  who  find  the  door  of  competency  closed 
in  their  faces.  The  pious  poor  is  more  than  a 
phrase.  It  is  often  literal  fact.  The  papyri  dis- 
coveries2 bear  eloquent  testimony  to  the  words  of 
Paul  about  the  membership  of  the  church  at  Corinth 
(1  Cor.  1:26-29).  The  papyri  letters  and  other 
documents  are  chiefly  from  the  middle  and  lower 
classes  and  reflect  the  actual  life  of  the  very  people 
from  whom  the  gospel  made  most  of  its  converts 
(the  fishermen,  the  carpenters,  the  publicans,  the 
tent-makers,  etc.).  There  were  already  some  wealthy 
members  of  the  early  churches,  men  like  Nicodemus, 

1  There  is  the  utmost  contrast  between  this  use  of  raneivdg  and 
that  in  Epictetus,  with  whom  humility  is  an  object  of  scorn  and 
contempt,  a  meanness  unworthy  of  man.  See  Bk.  III.,  chap,  ii, 
§  14.    Cf.  Sharp,  Epictetus  and  the  N.  T.,  p.  130,  133. 

2  Cf .  Deissmann,  Light  from  the  Ancient  East,  p.  392 ;  St.  Paul, 
p.  47. 


jo     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

Joseph  of  Arimathea,  Barnabas  of  Cyprus.  There 
were  "not  many  mighty,"  but  there  were  some. 
There  soon  came  to  be  large  numbers  of  slaves  in 
the  churches  when  the  gospel  spread  among  the 
Gentiles.  But  already  social  problems  of  an  acute 
nature  were  on  hand  when  James  wrote.  In  fact, 
we  see  such  problems  in  the  early  chapters  of  Acts, 
when  Ananias  and  Sapphira  wish  to  get  credit  for  a 
generosity  that  they  were  not  willing  to  show  and 
when  high  feeling  arose  in  the  distribution  of  the 
funds  for  the  Aramaean  (Palestinian)  and  Hellenistic 
widows  among  the  Jewish  Christians.  At  no  point 
are  people  more  sensitive  than  about  money. 

So  the  rich  brother  (nXovawg)  is  to  be  reminded  of 
his  humiliation  (Taneivuoig ) ,  "in  that  he  is  made 
low,"  placed  on  a  level  with  the  "lowly  brother." 
They  meet  on  the  level  in  Christ.  Each  is  as  high 
and  as  low  as  the  other,  no  more,  no  less.  The  rich 
man  is  not  to  glory  over  the  poor  man,  nor  is  the 
poor  brother  to  cringe  in  the  presence  of  the  rich 
brother.  This  is  the  democracy  of  faith,  the  univer- 
sality of  Christ.. '(.The  rich  brother  is  in  constant 
peril  of  pride  of  possession,  and  so  James  reminds 
him  of  the  fate  of  the  beautiful  flower  of  the  grass 
(dvdos  x°PT0V)  which  springs  up  quickly  and  withers 
before  the  burning  heat  (na-vow,  burner,  hot  wind) 
and  falls  off.  It  is  a  striking  adaptation  of  the 
language  of  Isaiah  (40:6-8),  using  the  imagery  for 
another  purpose.  Peter  (1 :  24)  says:  "All  flesh  is  as 
grass  and  all  the  glory  of  man  as  the  flower  of 
grass."  Christ  brings  all  men  to  their  true  level, 
the  common  humanity  in  us  all,  the  Sonship  in  him 


JOY  IN  TRIAL  71 

that  makes  us  heirs  of  heaven.  Moffatt  changes  "his 
high  estate"  to  "when  he  is  raised"  and  "in  that  he 
is  made  low"  to  "in  being  lowered."  He  seems  to 
understand  that  James  refers  to  the  possible  "ups 
and  downs"  of  life.  It  will  be  easy  for  the  lowly- 
brother  in  that  case  to  rejoice  when  he  becomes 
rich;  but  how  about  the  rich  brother  when  he  be- 
comes poor? 

Plummer  (in  loco)  refuses  to  see  a  "brother"  at 
all  in  the  rich  man,  but  only  one  of  the  rich  Jews 
who  oppressed  the  early  Christians,  as  in  5 :  1-6.  But 
that  gives  an  Ebionitic  tone  to  the  Epistle.  James 
does  indulge  in  irony,  but  he  is  apparently  sincere 
in  his  picture  here.  The  rich  brother  will  fade  away 
in  his  goings  (nopeiais)  as  if  James  has  in  mind  a 
drummer  whose  business  dries  up  like  a  flower. 
Riches  in  sooth  have  wings  and  fly  away.  They  are 
sweet  like  the  rose,  but  soon  vanish  from  us  forever. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Way  of  Temptation,     i:  12-18 

James  powerfully  sketches  the  natural  history  of 
temptation  if  yielded  to  and  the  glory  of  victory  if 
overcome.  The  other  sense  (temptation)  of  the 
word  {-neiQaoiioq)  used  for  trial  in  1 :  2  occurs  here. 
Moffatt  indeed  takes  "trial"  as  the  idea  in  1:12 
also  (so  does  Hort  in  loco),  but  certainly  in  verse 
13  we  have  to  say  "temptation."  It  is  most  likely 
that  the  idea  of  temptation  is  present  in  1:12. 
Here  James  returns  to  the  discussion  of  the  other 
side  of  the  blessing  of  trials,  namely,  the  blessing 
of  temptation  endured.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has 
"not  really  digressed  from  the  subject.  He  merely 
discussed  one  aspect  of  the  subject. 

1 .  Standing  the  Test.     1:12. 

"Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth  temptation." 
We  must  never  forget  that  Jesus  warned  us  against 
rushing  into  temptation,  not  merely  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer  (Matt.  6:13;  Luke  11:4),  but  also  in  the 
Agony  of  Gethsemane,  when  Satan  had  come  upon 
him  with  renewed  energy  in  spite  of  repeated  de- 
feats by  Jesus  since  the  wilderness  temptations  (Matt. 
26:41;  Luke  22:40).  Jesus  urged  the  disciples  to 
pray  to  be  spared  temptation.  No  one  knew  so  well 
as  he  the  power  of  the  evil  one.  He  had  wrestled 
with  him  to  the  end  and  had  conquered  where 
others  failed.  Temptation  is  not  to  be  courted,  not 
even  for  the  sake  of  the  experience  and  the  possible 

72 


THE  WAY  OF  TEMPTATION  j$ 

victory.  Too  many  go  down  in  the  struggle  for  any 
to  rush  into  it  lightly.  "Fools  rush  in  where  angels 
fear  to  tread." 

But,  if  temptation  is  thrust  upon  one,  then  he 
must  fight  and  he  must  win  as  Jesus  did.  There  is 
always  a  way  of  escape  (i  Cor.  10:  13).  We  must 
find  the  way  out  (en(3aoLg).  Cf.  Job  5:  17:  "Behold, 
happy  is  the  man  whom  the  Lord  correcteth"  (JjXsy- 
|ev).  He  only  is  happy  (fiatcdpiog,  the  same  word 
used  in  the  Beatitudes  in  Matt.  5:3-11)  who  en- 
dures (vnofievet.  Cf.  v-noiiovq) .  That  is  true  patience. 
It  is  only  "when  he  hath  been'  approved"  (doKifiog) 
after  standing  the  test  that  "he  shall  receive  the 
crown  of  life,"  the  victor's  crown.  The  word  for 
"approved"  suggests  the  furnace  that  removes  the 
dross  and  leaves  the  .  pure  metal.  The  refiner  of 
silver  watches,  we  are  told,  till  he  sees  his  own 
image  in  the  metal.  Then  it  is  pure.  The  metal  is 
tested  and  approved. 

"The  crown  of  life"  (tov  ortyavov  rrjg  £*%)•  Cf. 
Rev.  2:10)  is  probably  the  wreath  of  victory  in  the 
games  (cf.  1  Cor.  9:2552  Tim.  2:5),  for  Greek  games 
were  common  in  Palestine  in  the  days  of  Herod  the 
Great,  and  were  practised  even  in  Jerusalem  itself 
(Josephus,  Ant.  15,  8,  if.).  It  is  a  crown  of  kingly 
glory,  but  it  is  bestowed  as  reward  of  merit  to  those 
who  love  the  Lord  Jesus.  We  may  have  a  reference 
to  a  Logion  of  Jesus  not  preserved  in  which  he  makes 
this  promise.  "Blessed  is  he  who  hath  his  raiment 
white,  for  he  it  is  who  receiveth  the  crown  of  joy 
upon  his  head."1     In  Prov.  1 : 9  we  read  that  the 

1  Acta  Philippi,  Apocal.  Apocr.    Cf.  Resch,  Agrapha,  1889,  p.  254. 


74     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

instruction  of  father  and  mother  "shall  be  a  chap- 
let  of  grace  unto  thy  head"  (cf.  also  4:9).  In  Sir. 
15:  6  we  read  of  "a  crown  of  gladness,"  and  in  the 
Testimony  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs  (Levi  iv.  1)  we 
find  "crowns  of  glory."  Love  is  the  way  to  win 
this  crown,  love  and  the  proof  of  it  in  enduring 
temptation  and  leading  "the  white  life." 

2.  Blaming  God.     1 :  13. 

Whatever  doubt  exists  in  verse  12  about  trial  or 
temptation  vanishes  in  verse  13.  Here  it  is  clearly 
temptation  to  evil.  Hort  (in  loco)  suggests  "tempted 
by  trial,"  and  Moffatt  puts  it  "tried  by  temptation." 
Certainly  trial  becomes  a  temptation  to  some  men 
who  use  it  as  the  excuse  for  doing  wrong.  "Though 
trial  in  itself  is  ordered  by  God  for  our  good,  yet  the 
inner  solicitation  to  evil  which  is  aroused  by  the 
outer  trial  is  from  ourselves"  (Mayor).  Any  trial, 
wrongly  used,  may  become  a  temptation,  whereas  it 
was  meant  for  our  development  and  perfection. 
Temptation  is  merely  one  aspect  of  trial,  and  not  a 
necessary  one.  But  the  word  is  used  of  the  great 
tempter  (1  Thess.  3:  5,  6  neipdfav) .  So  Jesus  was 
tempted  (neipa^dfievog)  by  Satan  in  the  wilderness 
(Mark  1:  13).  Satan  desired  to  sift  the  apostles  as 
wheat,  to  ruin  them  if  possible  (Luke  22:31).  The 
Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees  sought  to  tempt  Jesus 
(Matt.  15:  1).  It  is  the  devil's  business  to  seek  to 
lure  another  into  wrong. 

When  a  man  is  tempted,  and  yields  to  the  tempta- 
tion, he  is  eager  to  blame  some  one  else  for  his  sin. 
If  he  cannot  do  otherwise,  he  will  blame  God  for 


■  THE  WAY  OF  TEMPTATION  75 

having  made  him  as  he  is  with  evil  possibilities. 
In  particular  is  this  true  of  sexual  sin,  which  Oesterley 
(in  loco)  thinks  James  has  specifically  in  mind  here. 
Cf.  Matt.  5:28;  1  Pet.  a:  11.  Adam  blamed  Eve 
and  Eve  the  Serpent.  And  even  Adam  blamed  God, 
for  he  said:  "The  woman  whom  thou  gavest  to  be 
with  me"  (Gen.  3:12).  Some  dare  to  say  in  so 
many  words:  "I  am  tempted  of  God."  They  hold 
God  responsible  for  their  appetites  and  passions  and 
seek  to  quiet  the  conscience  thus  while  they  give 
way  to  sin.  Others  hide  behind  heredity  or  en- 
vironment or  evil  companions.  Even  Agamemnon 
excused  himself  for  his  wrong  to  Achilles  by  holding 
Zeus  and  fate  responsible  (Horn.  Iliad,  xix.  86). 
Sirach  (15:  nf.)  says:  "Say  not  thou,  It  is  through 
the  Lord  that  I  fell  away."  The  origin  of  sin  is  a 
dark  problem,  but  it  is  a  lazy  philosophy  or  a  blind 
one  that  shirks  human  responsibility  or  tries  to  do 
it.  It  matters  not  whether  sin  is  the  remnant  of  the 
beast  in  us  (surely  some  men  act  at  times  like  the 
tiger)  or  the  response  to  evil  environment  or  both, 
we  are  merely  cowardly  when  we  blame  God  for  our 
own  wrongdoing. 

There  is  no  response  to  evil  in  God.  He  is  not 
"man's  giant  shadow  skyward  thrown."  The  abso- 
lute holiness  and  ethical  purity  of  God  should  at 
least  protect  him  from  the  charge  of  leading  us  into 
sin.  The  worst  of  men,  in  their  darkest  moments  of 
loneliness,  sometimes  come  face  to  face  with  God. 
Then  they  do  not  flippantly  blame  God,  but  confess 
their  sins  with  broken  heart.  Two  things  are  true 
about  evil  and  God.    One  is  that  God  himself  (avrog) 


76     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

tempts  no  man  to  sin.  He  does  send  trial,  but  not 
temptation.  We  may  not  understand  all  the  ways 
of  God's  Providence,  but  we  may  rest  secure  in  this: 
The  devil  does  tempt  us.  That  is  his  business. 
And  yet  James  does  not  refer  to  Satan  by  name 
here,  for,  after  all,  we  ourselves  are  responsible,  as  he 
proceeds  to  show.  It  does  not  help  matters  with  us 
any  more  than  it  did  with  Eve  to  lay  our  sin  upon 
the  devil.  The  other  thing  that  is  true  is  that  "God 
cannot  be  tempted  with  evil"  (aneipaoToc-  ianv  Kaitibv). 
He  cannot  be  tempted  to  do  evil  himself  nor  be  led 
to  tempt  others  with  evil.  The  phrase  does  not 
occur  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament  nor  in  the 
Septuagint,  but  it  is  a  paraphrase  of  a  common 
proverb  in  the  early  Christian  writings.1  God  does 
chastise  us  (Heb.  12:  4L,  -ncudtvu),  but  he  does  not 
tempt   us. 

All  this  is  in  strong  contrast  to  the  Greek  and 
Roman  notions  of  duty,  for  the  heathen  gods  were 
credited  with  all  human  and  even  inhuman  vices. 
The  gods  upon  Olympus  revel  in  lust  and  cruelty, 
jealousy  and  hate.  They  furnish  fit  ideals  for  the 
philosophy  of  Nietzsche,  but  do  not  accord  with 
the  God  of  the  New  Testament,  the  God  of  con- 
solation and  of  peace,  of  purity  and  love. 

3.  Snared  by  One's  Own  Bait.     1 :  14. 

The  man  himself  is  responsible  for  his  sin,  and  he 
need  not  seek  to  place  the  blame  elsewhere.     The 

1  Cf.  Mayor  on  James  (3rd  ed.,  p.  541.)-  The  Acts  of  John  (Zahn, 
p.  113.  5)  has  fit/  Keifin^e  tov  aneipacrTov,  and  p.  IQX>.  18,  o  yap  at  netpd- 
fwv  tov  aneipacTov  netpa&i.  The  devil  tried  to  tempt  even  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God. 


THE  WAY  OF  TEMPTATION  77 

temptation  is  not  a  temptation  to  him  if  the  man 
refuses  to  listen  to  the  siren's  voice.    The  man  is  not 
responsible  for  the  efforts  of  others  to  allure  him  to 
sin,  but  only  in  case  he  listens  and  yields.    Then  he  is 
really  "tempted,  when  he  is  drawn  away  by  his  own 
lust  and  enticed."    The  figure  is  very  bold  and  im- 
pressive.   The  word  for  "drawn  away"  (k^ekicofievog) 
is  used  in  Oppian  for  drawing  the  fish  out  from  its 
original  retreat,  beguiled  from  under  the  rock.   Then 
the  fish  is  ready  to  be  snared  by  the  bait  (detea&nevog, 
from  dikeap,  bait).    The  fish  bites  at  the  bait  and  is 
caught  on  the  hook.    So  with  a  man.    He  is  drawn 
out  by  his  own  lust  for  the  sin  placed  before  him.    In 
the  case  of  sexual  sin  the  impulse  is  not  in  itself 
sinful  any  more  than  the  fish's  hunger  for  food.   The 
sexual  nature  is  from  God  and  is  meant  only  for 
blessing  for  high  and  holy  ends.     But  the  misuse  of 
this  impulse  is  very  easy  and  very  dreadful  in  its 
results.     Satan  sets  many  kinds  of  bait  for  unwary 
boys  and  girls,  men  and  women,  who  at  first  are 
taken  off  their  guard  and  then  are  drawn  away  by 
desire  stirred  within  them  toward  evil.     The  evil 
suggestion  is  entertained  and   sin  is  the  outcome. 
This  very  word  "entice"  (3eXed^a>)  is  used  of  hunting 
(trapping  with   bait),   and  then   it   is  used   of  the 
harlot  who  entices  to  sin.     "My  son,  if  sinners  en- 
tice thee,  consent  thou  not"   (Prov.   1:10).     Philo 
speaks  of  our  being  "driven  by  passion  or  enticed  by 
pleasure."    The  pitfalls  are  many  in  modern  life,  in 
the  country,  in  the  village,  and  in  the  city.     The 
modern  demons  of  drink,  drug,  and  the  brothel  are 
busy  in  finding  victims.     But  the  point  made  by 


78     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

James  is  that  the  one  who  yields  does  so  because  of 
the  sin  within  one's  own  heart.  One's  own  evil 
desire  plays  the  part  of  temptress  (Plummer)  and  one 
is  drawn  away  by  it  and  enticed.  "If  thou  doest  not 
well,  sin  coucheth  at  the  door"  (Gen.  4:7)  like  a 
panther  ready  to  spring  upon  the  intended  victim 
caught  for  the  moment  off  guard.  One  is  reminded 
afresh  of  the  opening  chapters  of  Proverbs,  which 
cannot  be  excelled  by  any  of  the  modern  books  on 
sex-instruction,  some  of  which  stimulate  more  im- 
morality than  they  prevent.  Wise  warning  is  needed 
and  plain  talk  is  demanded,  but  not  pruriency  any 
more  than  prudery.  Alas,  and  alas,  that  the  paw 
of  the  modern  Moloch  draws  into  the  fire  so  many 
thousands  of  young  men  and  young  women  from 
the  homes  of  our  land.  The  best  capital  of  America 
is  the  children,  and  we  lose  too  much  of  it  in  the 
worst  of  gambles,  the  traffic  in  souls. 

4.  The  Abortion.     1:15. 

The  natural  history  of  sin  as  the  result  of  tempta- 
tion to  which  one  yields  is  given  with  scientific  ac- 
curacy and  graphic  power:  "Then  the  lust,  when  it 
hath  conceived,  beareth  sin:  and  the  sin,  when  it  is 
full-grown,  bringeth  forth  death."1  Moffatt  renders 
it  thus:  "Then  Desire  conceives  and  breeds  Sin, 
while  Sin  matures  and  gives  birth  to  Death."  It  is 
a  gruesome  picture  surely.  But  who  can  say  that 
it  is  overdrawn?  The  Positivist  tries  to  shut  God 
out  of  the  world  and  so  to  banish  human  responsi- 
ble full  text  is  worth  giving:  elra  /'/  cntdvfiia  ovllafiovoa  riicrei 
djtapTtav,  y  6i  duupria  dnoreXeodeioa  anonvel  ddvarov. 


THE  WAY  OF  TEMPTATION  79 

bility;  but,  alas,  he  cannot  banish  human  woe  and 
anguish  of  heart.  The  Agnostic  flings  up  his  hands 
in  despair  and  says  he  does  not  know  and  has  noth- 
ing to  say  in  the  presence  of  nature  "red  in  tooth 
and  claw."  The  brutal  Militarist  adopts  the  rule 
of  physical  might  wrongly  claimed  by  Nietzsche  to 
be  the  mark  of  the  superman.  Spiritual  and  moral ^/ 
prowess  should  dominate  brute  force  in  man,  else  he 
becomes  only  a  brute  himself.  He  drops  back  to  the 
law  of  the  jungle  and  rejects  the  law  of  love  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  The  "Christian  Scientist" 
blandly  shuts  his  eyes  to  such  errors  of  mortal  mind 
as  sin  and  sickness  and  sorrow,  and,  ostrich-like, 
cheerfully  denies  their  reality  and  seeks  to  blow 
them  away  with  a  puff.  But  sin  is  not  to  be  brushed 
aside  in  such  an  "old-maidish"  way.  The  startling 
revelations  of  city  life  in  the  midst  of  Christian 
civilization  have  led  to  protest  and  revolt  against 
existing  conditions.  One  proof  of  it  is  seen  in  a  book 
like  Miss  Jane  Addams's  "A  New  Conscience  and 
an  Ancient  Evil."  Another  is  seen  in  the  rooting 
out  of  houses  of  prostitution  from  many  of  our  large 
cities,  the  throttling  of  gambling,  the  growth  of 
prohibition  of  the  liquor  traffic.  One  good  result  has 
come  from  the  Great  War — the  prohibition  of  vodka 
in  Russia  and  the  coming  of  that  mighty  empire  to 
the  side  of  prohibition.  It  is  not  enough  to  lift  up 
hands  in  holy  horror  at  the  power  of  sin  to-day. 
Something  must  be  done  to  stop  real  race-suicide 
that  stalks  through  modern  life  in  the  shape  of  fear- 
ful venereal  diseases  that  threaten  the  very  life  of 
the  race. 


8o     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

But  the  words  of  the  verse  call  for  particular  re- 
mark. "Then"  (elra)  is  here  the  historical  order 
following  the  temptation  to  which  one  yields.  His 
lust  (kmdvfiia)  drew  him  forth  to  the  temptation. 
He  yields  and  the  result  is  the  conception,  which 
embryo  develops  into  sin.  This  is  the  first  birth, 
and  sin  is  the  child  of  desire  (tiktsl  apaqriav) .  De- 
sire is  not  in  itself  sinful,  but  it  easily  falls  into  sin. 
Thus  in  a  true  sense  desire  makes  sin  where  there 
was  no  sin,  and  so  gives  birth  to  sin.  But  this  is  not 
all.  Sin  in  its  turn  matures  (dnoTeXeadeloa,  consumma- 
tum,  Bengel)  and  gives  birth  to  death.1  This  second 
child  is  like  a  child  born  dead.  When  sin  is  born 
death  is  involved  like  an  embryonic  parasite  that 
feeds  on  sin.  Desire,  sin,  death  form  the  biological 
line  or  pedigree.  The  line  is  short,  for  "the  wages 
of  sin  is  death,"  as  Paul  puts  it  (Rom.  6:  23). 2  The 
picture  in  James  is  that  of  an  abnormal  birth  like  a 
misshapen  animal.  I  have  seen  a  five-legged  cow, 
the  fifth  leg  on  the  top  of  the  back  standing  up 
straight.  When  sin  is  born  death  begins  (conception) 
and  grows  in  fascinating  power  till  a  new  birth  comes, 
and,  lo,  this  child  is  death  itself.  "The  birth  of  death 
follows  of  necessity  when  once  sin  is  fully  formed, 
for  sin  from  its  first  beginnings  carried  death  within" 
(Hort,  in  loco). 

The  law  of  death  in  sin  applies  to  other  sins  be- 
sides the  so-called  sexual  sins  which  write  their  his- 

1  Bengel  puts  it  thus:  Peccatum  morte  gravidum  nascitur.  The 
Targum  of  Jonathan  on  Isaiah  62: 10  says  that  imagination  of  sin  is 
sinful. 

2  ra  ui)/6viat  the  rations  of  a  soldier.  The  pay  of  sin  is  death  and  it 
is  always  paid. 


THE  WAY  OF  TEMPTATION  81 

tory  so  plainly  in  the  body  and  the  mind  and  bring  a 
heritage  of  woe  through  all  the  family  history. 
There  is  here  no  sowing  of  wild  oats  to  raise  a  crop 
of  wheat.  The  fearful  fidelity  of  modern  scientific 
knowledge  throws  a  lurid  light  on  this  passage  in 
James.  The  sinner  makes  his  bed  and  lies  down 
in  it  and  drags  down  with  him  the  helpless  ones 
who  are  thrown  in  his  care.  As  I  am  writing  I  re- 
ceive a  copy  of  "Light,"  a  magazine  published  by 
the  World's  Purity  Federation.  This  issue  for  No- 
vember, 1 9 14,  contains  an  article  by  a  woman  who 
has  lived  "Twenty-five  Years  in  the  Underworld." 
Her  story  reads  like  a  commentary  on  the  words  of 
James.  She  claims  to  have  had  the  best  of  that 
sordid  life,  but  she  concludes:  "No  matter  what 
humiliation  a  girl  has  to  endure,  it  is  better  to  endure 
it  than  to  get  into  this  life.  There  is  nothing  in  it  for 
any  of  them.  The  very  best  of  us  get  it  hard  before 
we  die.  And,  at  the  best,  it  is  Hell."  The  issue  of 
death  is  seen,  not  merely  in  the  diseases  of  the  body, 
but  "also  in  the  deterioration  of  mind  and  character 
which  accompanies  every  kind  of  sin"  (Mayor,  in 
loco).    Death  and  hell  then  claim  their  own. 

5.  God  the  Source  of  Good.    1 :  i6f. 

The  contrast  is  sharp.  "Be  not  deceived"  Qirj 
■nXavaode) ;  do  not  wander  so  in  your  minds  as  to 
think  that  temptation  and  sin  and  death  come  from 
God.  He  is  not  the  source  of  evil.  Rabbi  Chaninah 
says:  "No  evil  thing  cometh  down  from  above." 
Cf.  Jesus  in  John  8:23  on  "above"  and  "below." 
James  is  tenderly  affectionate  in  his  appeal  on  this 


82     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

point  (My  beloved  brethren).  On  the  contrary,  only 
good  comes  from  God.  God  is  good,  and  he  alone 
is  absolutely  good  (Mark  10:  18).1  In  the  Greek 
the  next  sentence  runs  like  a  hexameter  line  if  one 
short  syllable  is  considered  long  by  stress  of  the 
meter.2  We  need  not  tarry  over  a  fanciful  straining 
after  poetical  lines  in  prose.  Oesterley  agrees  with 
Ewald  in  seeing  here  a  quotation  from  a  Hellenistic 
poem.  It  is  far  more  likely  just  accidental  rhythm 
common  enough  in  good  prose.  The  scholars  differ 
also  as  to  how  to  translate  the  sentence.  Moffatt 
hits  it  off  thus:  "All  we  are  given  is  good,  and  all  our 
endowments  are  faultless."3 

"The  Father  of  lights"  sets  God  over  against  the 
worship  of  the  sun  so  common  among  the  ancients. 
Plato  (Repub.  vi.  sosff.)  compares  the  sun  to  the 
idea  of  the  good.  Modern  science  powerfully  illus- 
trates this  comparison  of  James  in  bringing  out 
what  we  owe  to  the  sun  in  the  way  of  light,  heat, 
and  life  itself.  Philo  calls  God  "the  Father  of  the 
all,"  the  lights  (the  moon  and  the  stars)  and  all  else 
in  the  universe.  "When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the 
work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars  which 
thou  hast  ordained;  what  is  man,  that  thou  art 
mindful  of  him?  And  the  son  of  man,  that  thou 
visitest  him?"  (Psa.  8:  3I).    Cf.  Phil.  2:  16.    God  is 

1  'Aya^c  is  here  used  in  the  sense  of  absolute,  not  relative, 
goodness. 

inaoa  66aig  ayadt)  ml  nav  66pr)/xa  rfheiov.  But  see  Robertson, 
Grammar  of  the  Greek  N.  T.  in  the  Light  of  Historical  Research, 
p.  1200. 

3  He  thus  preserves  the  distinction  between  M<*i(  and  Mptf*", 
ayabi)  and  reXeioc. 


THE  WAY  OF  TEMPTATION  83 

not  only  light  (1  John  1:5),  but  all  true  light  comes 
from  him,  all  the  light  that  lighteth  every  man 
coming  into  the  world  (John  1:9). 

But  the  sun  appears  to  move  rapidly.  Watch  the 
sun  drop  like  a  ball  of  fire  at  sunset  and  thus  cast  a 
deepening  shadow  over  the  earth.  The  sundial  is  one 
of  the  oldest  ways  to  mark  "the  shadow  that  is  cast 
by  turning"  (Tponrjg  dnooKiaofia) .  Mayor  quotes  Plu- 
tarch (Percl.  7)  for  the  use  of  this  figure  for  shadows 
cast  on  the  dial  (yvojfxdvuv  aTrooniaofioc;) .  James  is 
here,  of  course,  using  popular  language,  as  we  still 
do  when  we  say  that  the  sun  rises  and  sets.  But 
with  our  Father  of  lights  there  is  "no  change  of 
rising  and  setting"  (Moffatt,  -nagaXXayfi) .  He  "casts 
no  shadow  on  the  earth."  Even  the  pole-star,  we 
now  know,  whirls  on  in  space,  carrying  the  worlds 
along  with  it.  But  our  God  is  not  changeable  nor 
whimsical.  He  does  not  send  now  good,  now  ill. 
He  knows  how  to  give  good  gifts  to  those  that  ask 
him,  yea,  the  best  of  all  gifts,  the  Holy  Spirit  (Luke 
11:  13).  What  seems  ill  is  really  good  if  it  comes 
from  God.  If  one  takes  his  stand  by  God's  side 
(nap  ay)  and  looks  at  his  life,  he  sees  God's  plan  as  a 
whole  for  his  own  life  and  for  God's  glory. 

6.  The  New  Birth.     1:18. 

"So  far  from  God  tempting  us  to  evil,  his  will  is 
the  cause  of  our  regeneration"  (Mayor).  He  is  our 
Father  in  a  double  sense.  We  owe  our  original  birth 
to  God,  in  whose  image  we  are  made  (Gen.  2:7). 
We  owe  our  spiritual  birth  likewise  to  God,  who 
begat  us  again  to  a  living  hope  (1  Pet.  1:3).    The 


84     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

Mishnah  (Surenh.,  iv.  116)  says:  "A  man's  father 
only  brought  him  forth  into  this  world:  his  teacher, 
who  taught  him  wisdom,  brings  him  into  the  life  of 
the  world  to  come."  Happy  is  the  father  who  leads 
his  child  also  to  Christ.  But,  while  the  word  of 
truth  (Aoycj  akTjdeiag)  is  the  instrument  used  in  the 
instruction  (a  pointed  lesson  for  parents,  teachers, 
preachers),  the  actual  work  of  regeneration  is  due  to 
God  as  Father,  yes,  and  as  Mother  also,  for  the 
word  "brought  forth"  (dneicv^aev)  is  the  one  used  of 
the  mother  (see  by  contrast  verse  15  above).  The 
doctrine  of  grace  here  set  forth  is  of  a  piece  with 
that  in  Paul's  writings  (Rom.  12:2;  Eph.  1:5),  those 
of  Peter  (1  Pet.  1:3),  and  of  John  (1: 13).  Indeed, 
Jesus  himself  is  quoted  as  saying :  "You  did  not  choose 
me,  but  I  chose  you"  (John  15:  16).  As  the  seed  of 
sin  produces  death,  so  the  seed  of  God  produces  life 
(1  John  3:9).  It  is  interesting  to  note  this  piece  of 
fundamental  theology  in  so  practical  a  writer  as 
James,  who  lays  special  emphasis  on  works  as  proof 
of  life.  But  James  has  no  such  idea  as  some  careless 
and  shallow  theologians  who  think  that  a  man  can 
galvanize  himself  into  spiritual  life  by  imitative 
ethics.  The  man  must  be  born  again,  as  Jesus  said 
so  impressively  to  Nicodemus  (John  3:3).  Birth 
precedes  growth  and  development. 

We  are  not  to  puzzle  ourselves  too  much  over  the 
mysteries  of  spiritual  biology.  We  know  that  the 
impulse  and  purpose  (fiovX^dtig)1  comes  from  God 
(John  1 :  13).    What  we  do  know  is  that  God  honors 

1  Bengel  says:  voluntate  amantissima,  Uberrima,  purissima,  foecun- 
dissima.    Cf.  (3ov?.f/  for  set  purpose,  not  mere  will  or  wish  (i)i?.u). 


THE  WAY  OF  TEMPTATION  85 

and  uses  the  word  of  truth,  both  spoken  and  written. 
If  this  is  true,  what  a  responsibility  for  diligence  and 
urgency  in  the  use  of  the  word  of  truth.  By  the 
truth  we  are  set  free  from  sin  and  error  (John  8: 
3 if.).  The  word  of  truth  is  the  gospel  of  salvation 
(Eph.  1 :  13 ;  Col.  1:5),  the  word  of  life  (1  John  1 :  1). 
God's  word  is  truth  (John  17:  17)  and  the  words  of 
Jesus  are  spirit  and  life  (John  6:  63).  The  word  of 
truth,  when  combined  with  the  power  of  God  (2  Cor. 
6:7),  quickens  into  life.  So  James  emphasizes  the 
importance  of  the  human  element  in  the  new  birth 
while  rightly  making  God  supreme  in  the  act  of 
regeneration.  We  must  reach  men  with  the  word 
of  God.  We  must  pass  it  on  to  the  thirsty,  the 
hungry,  the  dying.  Every  church  is  or  ought  to  be 
a  life-saving  station,  a  rescue  mission,  a  teaching 
center,  a  power  house,  a  lighthouse  radiating  knowl- 
edge of  God  in  Christ. 

The  purpose  (el$  rd  elvai)  of  God  in  renewing  us 
by  the  word  of  truth  is  that  we  in  turn  should  win 
others.  We  are  not  an  end  in  ourselves,  though 
God  does  save  us.  He  saves  us  that  we  may  serve. 
We  are  to  be  a  sort  of  first-fruits  {a-nagxvv  rtva),1  not 
the  full  harvest.  There  are  fields  upon  fields  beyond 
us  ready  for  the  reaper.  We  are  just  a  beginning, 
just  a  foretaste.  We  whet  the  appetite  for  larger, 
richer  blessings.  "The  trees  that  are  a  fortnight  to 
the  fore  are  the  talk  and  delight  of  the  town"  (J. 


1  The  inscriptions  (Ditt.,  Syll,  587  263)  use  the  word  for  the  first- 
fruits  to  Demeter  and  Kore,  but  Moulton  and  Milligan  (Vocabulary, 
p.  54)  give  many  examples  from  the  papyri  and  the  inscriptions, 
where  "gift"  or  "sacrifice"  seems  sufficient. 


86     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

Rendel  Harris,  Present  Day  Papers,  1901,  May,  The 
Elements  of  a  Progressive  Church).  One  spring  my 
baby  boy  noticed  a  tree  without  leaves  when  all  the 
rest  were  in  leaf.  "What  is  the  matter  with  this 
tree?"  he  said.  Christ  has  introduced  a  new  order 
into  the  world.  He  himself  is  the  real  first-fruits 
(1  Cor.  15:20).  But  there  are  others  through  all 
the  ages,  those  that  ripen  first  and  fast,  show  the 
way,  give  promise  of  the  future.  So  Epainetus  was 
a  first-fruit  of  Asia  for  Christ  (Rom.  16:5),  the 
household  of  Stephanas  in  Corinth  (1  Cor.  16:  15). 
Blessings  on  the  first-fruits  for  salvation  in  any 
church,  any  town,  any  family  (2  Thess.  2 :  13).  They 
are  the  chosen  of  God,  like  the  144,000  in  the  Book 
of  Revelation  (14:3),  the  Church  of  the  Firstborn 
(Heb.  12:23).  The  Jews  consecrated  their  first- 
fruits  to  God  as  his  in  a  special  sense.  All  Christians 
are  meant  to  be  first-fruits,  the  promise  and  earnest 
of  better  work  (Rom.  8:  23).  God  has  in  store  great 
things  for  his  people.  The  least  that  we  can  do  is  to 
bring  our  first  and  our  best,  our  all,  and  lay  it  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus.  The  new  heaven  and  the  new 
earth  may  not  come  while  we  live  on  earth,  but  we 
may  help  heaven  to  come  upon  earth  by  living  the 
life  of  God. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Practice  of  the  Word  of  God.    i:  19-27 

Nowhere  is  James  richer  than  in  this  wonderful 
paragraph.  He  has  in  mind  "the  word  of  truth" 
(Adyw  aXrideiag)  of  verse  18,  and  follows  that  idea  with 
pungent  and  powerful  words  that  remind  one  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It  is  not  clear  whether  the  first 
part  of  verse  19  belongs  in  idea  to  what  goes  before  or 
what  follows.  "Ye  know  this,  my  beloved  brethren." 
It  makes  perfectly  good  sense  either  way.  It  is  also 
uncertain  whether  we  have  a  statement  or  a  com- 
mand, for  the  form  (iots)1  may  be  either  indicative  ' 
or  imperative.  If  you  "know  it,  act  on  your  knowl- 
edge. Let  us  listen  to  what  the  Word  has  to  say, 
since  we  are  renewed  by  the  use  of  it  and  be  less 
captious  in  our  criticism  of  its  teachings  (Mayor). 
Moffatt  puts  it:  "Be  sure  of  that,  my  beloved 
brothers,"  and  connects  it  with  verse  18. 

1.  Brilliant  Listening.     1:19a. 

By  "swift_  to  hear"  (raxvg  «?  rd  dKovaai)  James 
brings  a  vivid  picture  before  us.  Moffatt  has  it 
"quick  to  listen."  Sirach  (5:11)  has  a  like  com- 
mand: "Be  swift  in  thy  listening"  (raxvg  ev  atcpodoet 
oov).  One  thinks  of  swift  feet,  fleet  of  foot,  yes,  and 
of  ear.  The  Vulgate  has  velox  here.  The  wild  ani- 
mals (and  the  Indians)  of  necessity  have  keen  ears 

1  In  4:4  James  has  oldare  as  indicative  so  that  lore  is  probably  {/" 
imperative.    Cf.  also  Eph.  5:5;  Heb.  12:17. 

87 


« 


88     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

and  can  hear  the  slightest  rustle  of  a  leaf  or  crackling 
of  a  twig.  The  rabbit,  so  often  hunted  by  man  and 
dog,  pricks  up  his  ears  at  the  sound  of  a  pin  dropping. 
The  use  of  the  telephone  and  wireless  telegraphy 
have  given  added  importance  to  the  value  of  the  ear. 
The  ancients  relied  very  much  on  the  ear,  for  the 
reader  of  books  had  a  wide-awake  audience  who 
depended  on  the  ear  rather  than  the  eye  for  infor- 
mation. The  mechanism  of  listening  is  very  won- 
derful, the  contact  between  brain  and  brain  through 
the  sound  waves  of  speech  and  the  reception  of  the 
spoken  words  by  the  ear.  Jesus  often  said:  "He  that 
hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear."  The  ear  with  many 
was,  and  is,  the  sole  avenue  of  acquiring  knowledge. 
It  is  no  disparagement  of  books  to  say  that  the  art 
of  conversation  is  one  of  the  greatest  refinements. 
But  the  very  essence  of  a  good  conversationalist  is 
that  he  be  also  a  good  listener,  else  he  is  a  consum- 
mate bore.  Sydney  Smith  said  of  Macaulay  that  his 
occasional  flashes  of  silence  made  his  conversation 
delightful.  In  Qoheleth  Rabba  we  read:  "Speech  for  a 
shekel,  silence  for  two;  it  is  like  a  precious  stone." 
Broadus  had  a  great  lecture  on  "The  Art  of  Listen- 
ing." It  is  a  really  rare  art  and  one  of  the  most  use- 
ful. Poor  listening  will  make  poor  preaching  of  a 
really  good  sermon.  Good  listening  will  come  near 
to  making  a  good  sermon  out  of  a  poor  one.  The 
writer  of  Hebrews  complains  that  his  readers  have 
"become  dull  of  hearing"  (voOpoi  yty6vart  ralq  d/roaZf). 
The  word  for  "dull"  (vwOqoi,  from  vq  and  w0ew)  means 
no  push."  They  had  no  push  in  their  ears,  no 
energy   in   listening,   already   half -asleep.      In   par- 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD        89 

ticular  do  we  need  to  listen  when  God  speaks  to  us 
in  his  Word  of  truth,  "a  quick  and  attentive  ear  to 
catch  what  God  has  spoken"  (Hort).  Inattention  is 
irritating  and  may  be  deadly.  Sirach  says:  "The 
mind  of  a  sagacious  person  will  meditate  on  a  prov- 
erb; and  an  attentive  ear  is  the  desire  of  a  wise  man" 
(3:29).  God  is  constantly  speaking  to  those  with 
ears  to  hear.  It  is  good  for  the  young  to  learn  the 
habit  of  attention,  a  help  in  meeting  temptation. 

2.  Eloquent  Silence.     1 :  19b. 

Another  "life-rule"  (Lebensregel)  of  James  (Win- 
disch)  is  "slow  to  speak"  (Ppadvg  elg  to  kakfjoai).  The 
Vulgate  has  tardus.  One  must  not  forget  Homer's 
"winged  words"  {-nTegoevra  e-nea),  for  words  can  be 
laden  with  messages  of  joy  and  life  and  peace  and 
love.  Eloquence  has  its  place,  real  eloquence  of  the 
soul,  words  on  fire  that  blaze  and  burn,  words  that 
thrill  and  electrify,  words  that  make  life  and  death 
noble  and  high,  words  like  those  of  Jesus  that  are 
spirit  and  life  (John  6:  63).  But,  when  all  is  said, 
there  is  something  deeper  than  mere  speech,  higher 
than  just  words,  nobler  than  talk.  If  speech  is 
silvern,  silence  is  often  golden.  Sorrow  may  be  too 
unutterable  for  words.  Joy  may  pass  beyond  all 
speech.  The  proverb  also  has  it  that  "many  a  man 
has  had  to  repent  of  speaking,  but  never  one  of 
holding  his  peace,"  unless  silence  is  guilty  or  cow- 
ardly. But  it  is  easy  to  be  voluble  with  the  tongue 
and  slack  in  life.  Sirach  says:  "Be  not  violent 
(raxvc;)  with  thy  tongue,  and  in  thy  deeds  slack 
(vwflpdf)  and  remiss."     Volubility  is  certainly  not  a 


oo     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

sign  of  power.  The  silent  man,  like  Moses,  is  more 
likely  to  be  a  man  of  power  and  performance.  The 
parrot  and  the  owl  form  good  examples  of  the  weak- 
ness of  chatter  and  the  wisdom  of  silence.  Zeno 
calls  attention  to  the  obvious  fact  that  we  have 
two  ears  and  one  mouth  and  should  therefore  listen 
twice  as  much  as  we  talk. 

James  does  not,  of  course,  mean  that  men  should 
be  slow  and  dull  talkers  after  we  begin  or  when  we 
should  talk.  He  means  slow  to  talk  (elg  to),  not 
slow  in  talking  (ev  tu).  Often  the  least  interesting 
men  are  the  very  ones  who  talk  most  frequently  and 
at  the  greatest  length.  We  are  to  think  twice  before 
we  speak.  Sometimes,  if  we  do  that,  we  shall  not 
speak  at  all.  At  any  rate,  we  shall  be  more  likely 
to  have  sense  in  our  speech.  We  shall  speak  to  more 
purpose  if  we  speak  after  silence  and  out  of  the  re- 
flection from  silence.  McLaren  has  a  good  phrase, 
"Spread  out  our  souls  to  the  truth."  "Be  still  and 
know  that  I  am  God."  Mary  "kept  (ower^pet)  all 
these  sayings,  pondering  (ovvfiaXXovoa)  them  in  her 
heart"  (Luke  2:  19).  She  could  only  listen  to  God. 
The  Quakers  have  some  ground  for  their  plea  for 
meditation  in  the  Christian  life.  Introspection  can, 
of  course,  be  overdone,  but  the  present  age  is  not 
given  to  reflection  and  contemplation.  Practical 
mysticism  is  the  best  type  of  Christianity.  Indeed, 
a  Christianity  without  mysticism  is  empty  and 
formal. 

It  is  quite  possible  (Johnstone)  that  the  free  con- 
versational style  employed  in  the  early  Christian 
meetings  was  taken  advantage  of  by  contentious 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD        91 

persons,  with  the  result  of  serious  wranglings,  as  in 
the  church  at  Corinth  (cf.  1  Cor.  14).  "In  the  multi- 
tude of  words  there  wanteth  not  transgression;  but 
he  that  refraineth  his  lips  doeth  wisely"  (Prov.  10: 
19).  Such  violent  talkers  break  up  the  spiritual  life 
of  a  church.  The  less  they  know  the  more  they  talk. 
They  have  positive  opinions  on  every  subject  of 
politics  or  religion.  They  know  how  their  neighbors 
should  act  in  the  smallest  details  and  criticize  every- 
body and  everything.  They  are  happiest  when  all  is 
agog  with  talk  of  some  sort,  and  the  more  gossipy  it 
is  the  better  they  like  it.  "They  cannot  think,  and  \ 
it  is  a  relief  to  them  to  hear  their  own  voices"  (Dale). 
Epictetus  (Ench.  xxxiii,  §5)  has  the  same  idea  as 
James:  "Let  there  be  silence  for  the  most  part  or 
let  that  which  is  necessary  be  said  in  few  words." 

3.  Dull  Anger.     1 :  igicf. 

The  third  "life  rule"  of  James  is  "slow  to  wrath" 
(fipadvg  eig  6py?/v).  There  is  a  clear  connection  be- 
tween speech  and  anger.  Anger  inflames  one  to  hasty 
and  unguarded  talk.  In  turn  the  words  act  as  fuel  to 
the  flames.  The  talk  inflames  the  anger  and  the  anger 
inflames  the  talk.  The  more  one  talks  the  angrier 
he  becomes,  like  a  spit-fire.  If  one  stops  talking,  his 
anger  will  cool  down  for  lack  of  fuel.  Men  who  are 
dull  enough  in  listening,  who  will  sleep  through  any 
sermon,  are  quick  to  resent  a  personal  reflection  or  an 
imagined  wrong.  There  is  profound  wisdom  in  the 
plan  of  Secretary  W.  J.  Bryan  for  having  a  period  for 
deliberation  before  war  is  possible  after  a  casus  belli 
arises  between   nations.     Often  one's  manhood   is 


92     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

gauged  by  his  quickness  to  avenge  a  personal  affront 
with  murder  as  the  outcome.  This  is  a  fine  place 
to  be  dull,  when  one  is  tempted  to  be  angry.  Anger 
is  sometimes  justifiable,  even  necessary.  There  is 
such  a  thing  as  righteous  indignation  against  wrong. 
Jesus  "looked  round  about  on  them  with  anger" 
(Mark  3:5),  but  it  was  compassionate  anger.  It  is 
possible  to  be  angry  and  sin  not  (Eph.  4:  26),  but 
we  must  not  cherish  anger,  must  not  "let  the  sun 
go  down  upon  our  wrath."  Unlike  God,  we  do  not 
know  all  the  circumstances  in  the  case.  Just  getting 
mad  is  not  promoting  the  kingdom  of  God.  "The 
wrath  of  man  worketh  not  the  righteousness  of 
God."  Cf.  Matt.  5  :  2 if.  The  euphemistic  phrase  of 
James  is  emphatic  by  its  very  mildness.  Man's 
wrath  is  set  over  against  God's  righteousness.  The 
growth  of  religion  and  of  civilization  is  marked  by 
the  self-restraint  of  the  individual  and  of  the  state. 
Vengeance  is  a  boomerang  in  most  instances.  The 
taking  of  vengeance  into  one's  own  hands  brings 
down  the  house  on  one's  own  head. 

At  any  rate  it  pays  every  man  and  every  nation  to 
be  slow  to  anger. 

"Boys,  flying  kites,  haul  in  their  white- winged  birds; 
You  can't  do  that  way,  when  you're  flying  words. 
Thoughts,  unexpressed,  may  sometimes  fall  back  dead, 
But  God  himself  can't  kill  them  once  they're  said." 

Sometimes  unpalatable  truth  has  to  be  spoken, 
hard  words  have  to  be  said.  "Am  I  become  your 
enemy  by  telling  you  the  truth?"  (Gal.  4:  16).  But 
the  preacher  needs  to  temper  rebuke  with  love  and 
anguish  of  soul. 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD         93 

4.  The  Rooted  Word.     1:21. 

"The  implanted  word"  (tov  ty<f>vTov  Xoyov)  is  prob- 
ably a  mistranslation.1  The  common  idea  of  the 
word  is  "inborn"  or  "innate"  (cf.  Wisd.  12:10, 
"their  wickedness  is  inborn").  The  word  is  occa- 
sionally used  for  second  nature  or  secondary  in- 
growth (Hort).  The  word  is  sown,  not  grafted,  and 
so  "rooted"  seems  to  be  the  meaning  here  (Mayor).2 
See  also  Rom.  6:5,  "united  (avfKpvroi)  with  him  in 
the  likeness  of  his  death."  The  figure  is  that  of  the 
seed  sown  in  the  heart  and  taking  root  and  growing 
there.  So  Jesus  spoke  of  the  man  who  hath  not  root 
in  himself  (Matt.  13:  21). 3 

Receive  the  rooted  word ;  but  before  doing  so  one 
must  cleanse  the  heart  like  a  garden  of  all  noxious 
weeds.  The  imagery  is  doubtless  a  mixed  metaphor, 
but  never  mind  that,  for  the  thought  is  clear.  The 
"putting  away"  (dnodi^ievoi)  suggests  the  laying  aside 
of  a  garment,  as  in  Heb.  12:1  one  strips  for  the  race. 
In  Eph.  4:21  Paul  contrasts  putting  off  the  old  man 
with  putting  on  (kvdvoaodai)  the  new  (cf.  also  Col. 
3  :  8ff.).  Mayor  notes  the  comparison  between  dress 
and  character  in  the  wedding  garment  (Matt.  22 :  11), 
the  white  robe  of  purity  (Rev.  3:4,  18).  In  1  Pet. 
2:1  we  have  language  similar  to  that  of  James, 
"putting  away  therefore  all  wickedness."  But  prob- 
ably James  means  to  carry  the  figure  of  the  garden 
all  through  the  verse,  as  Moffatt  has  it:  "So  clear 
away  all  the  foul  rank  growth,"  the  weeds  of  "filthi- 

1  This  translation  calls  for  e/KpvTevrov,  not  e/Mpvrov. 

2  The  Latin  insitus  likewise  has  a  double  use,  innate  or  implanted. 
*  oiiK  t%ei  6e  pi^ai'  iv  eavrti. 


94     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

ness"  (pvirapiav)  and  "overflowing  of  wickedness" 
(negioaeiav  Kaitias).  The  "filthiness"  may  mean  im- 
purity. Compare  Paul's  phrase  "corrupt  speech," 
literally  "rotten  speech"  {Myog  oanpdg)  in  Eph.  4:  29. 
But  in  Rev.  22 :  11,  "And  he  that  is  filthy  (6  pvnap6$) 
let  him  be  made  filthy  still,"  the  notion  is  more  gen- 
eral. Another  noxious  weed  that  must  be  gotten  out 
of  the  way  is  "wickedness"  (icaicias),  which  here  may 
have  the  narrower  sense  of  malice.  '  'What  was  called 
holy  anger  was  nothing  better  than  spite"  (Hort). 
It  is  even  suggested  that  the  "overflowing"  (nepia- 
oeiav)  is  a  sort  of  overgrowth  or  "excrescence"  (Hort), 
but  with  no  idea  of  admitting  that  a  small  amount 
of  wickedness  or  malice  is  not  evil.  The  precise 
figure  is  an  "ebullition"  or  "effervescence"  of  malice. 
Surely  one  too  often  sees  this  picture  in  actual  life. 
Malice  bubbles  up  and  runs  over  into  word  and 
deed.  "The  evil  man  out  of  the  evil  treasure  in  his 
heart  bringeth  forth  that  which  is  evil"  (Luke  6:  45). 
He  speaks  out  of  the  "abundance"  (irepiooeviAaTog)  of 
his  heart.  Surely  evil  runs  riot  unless  it  is 
checked  and  taken  out  root  and  branch.  Per  contra 
one  loves  to  think  of  the  "abundance  of  grace" 
(Rom.  5:17,  21)  and  the  "abundance  of  joy"  (2 
Cor.  8:2). 

When  once  the  weeds  are  out  of  the  way  "make  a 
soil  of  modesty  for  the  Word  which  roots  itself  in- 
wardly" (Moffatt's  Translation).  Surely  the  re- 
pentant sinner  can  only  "receive  with  meekness" 
(ev  npavTTjTi) .  Hort  notes  that  the  temper  full  of 
harshness  and  pride  destroys  the  faculty  of  per- 
ceiving the  voice  of  God.    Jesus  urged  men  to  come 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD        95 

to  school  to  him  because  he  is  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart  (Matt.  11 :  29).  Meekness  is  not  a  virtue  that 
ranks  high  with  all  men.  Many  of  the  ancients 
counted  it  a  vice,  as  Nietzsche  has  taught  in  our 
generation.  But  the  spirit  of  Nietzsche's  superman  is 
not  the  spirit  of  Jesus  nor  of  the  true  gentleman. 
There  can  be  no  true  culture  without  gentleness  and 
the  grace  of  meekness. 

If  the  seed  of  the  Word  gets  root  and  is  allowed  to 
grow  (compare  the  wayside,  stony-ground,  thorny- 
ground  hearers  in  Christ's  parable  in  Matt.  13),  the 
tree  of  life  will  flourish  in  the  garden  of  the  soul. 
This  word  is  "able  to  save  your  souls."  It  brings  a 
present  salvation  here  and  now  (John  5:34),  a  new 
life  of  purity.  It  helps  in  the  progressive  salvation 
of  the  whole  man  in  his  battle  with  sin  and  growth 
in  grace  (2  Tim.  3:15).  It  leads  to  final  salvation  in 
heaven  with  Christ  in  God  (1  Pet.  1:9).  The  gospel 
is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  (Rom.  1 :  16),  the 
very  power  of  God  pulses  in  it.  See  Heb.  4:  i2f.  for 
a  wonderful  picture  of  the  vital  force  of  the  word  of 
God,  quick  and  powerful,  all  electric  with  the  energy 
of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Men  may  scoff  at  and  scout 
the  message  of  God,  but  it  saves  men's  souls.  What 
else  does  that? 

5.  Hearers  Only.     1:22-24. 

James  keeps  the  balance  well.  He  has  shown  the 
wisdom  of  good  listening.  Now  he  proves  the  fu- 
tility of  mere  listening  with  no  effort  to  put  into 
practice  what  one  hears.  There  is  life  in  the  word 
of  God  if  it  is  lived.     It  is  quick  with  life-giving 


96     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

energy  for  those  who  put  it  to  the  test  of  life.  One 
may  hear  and  not  heed.  The  Greek  used  the  same 
word  (anovu)  for  both  ideas.  One  is  reminded  of  the 
Parable  of  the  Sower  again,  for  only  one  of  the  four 
classes  of  hearers  brought  forth  fruit.  That  is  the 
test.  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  The 
reception  of  the  word  will  only  bring  final  salvation 
in  case  the  fruit  is  borne.  James  knew  only  too  well 
the  empty  ceremonialism  of  the  Jews  who  said  and 
did  not.  Jesus  (see  Matt.  23)  arraigned  the  hy- 
pocrisy of  the  Pharisees  in  the  most  scathing  de- 
nunciation of  all  time.  "But  be  ye  doers  of  the  word, 
and  not  hearers  only,  deluding  your  own  selves." 
Show  yourselves  (yiveode)  "word-doers"  (Hort,  71-0*7/- 
ral  Xoyov).  One  is  reminded  of  Emerson's  The 
Thinker,  The  Sayer,  The  Doer.  By  "word"  it  is  not 
clear  whether  is  meant  the  Torah  (Oesterley)  or  any 
word  of  authority  (Hort)  or  the  rooted  word  just 
mentioned  (Plummer).  The  latter  is  most  likely, 
though  the  partial  personification  of  word  (Aoyo^) 
here  reminds  one  of  the  opening  verses  of  the  Fourth 
Gospel  and  of  Philo  and  the  Targums. 

The  "hearers  only"  (firf  aKQoarui  fiovov)  did  nothing 
else  but  listen.  They  were  true  "sermon-tasters" 
who  fed  upon  the  ministry  of  the  word  or  the  written 
word,  only  to  fatten  into  sloth  and  spiritual  inertia. 
They  got  the  hook-worm  disease  in  religion  and  be- 
longed to  the  "shirkers,"  not  the  "workers."  Rabbi 
Chananiah  used  to  say:  "Whosesoever  works  are  in 
excess  of  his  wisdom,  his  wisdom  stands;  and  whose- 
soever wisdom  is  in  excess  of  his  works,  his  wisdom 
stands  not"  (Taylor's  Jewish  Fathers,  p.  63).    The 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD         97 

rabbis  said  yiere  were  two  crowns,  one  for  doing  and 
one  for  hearing,  based  on  Exod.  24:  7,  "we  will  do, 
and  we  will  hear"  ("be  obedient,"  Rev.  V.).  The 
word  for  hearers  (d/cpoara/)  appears  nowhere  else  in 
the  New  Testament  and  was  used  for  attendants  at 
the  lectures  of  philosophers  and  other  public  speakers 
rather  than  learners  or  disciples  (fiadrjTai).  One  thinks 
of  the  public  reading  of  the  word  in  the  synagogues. 
But  even  so,  "Act  on  the  Word"  Moffatt  has  it. 
Else  it  is  like  pouring  water  into  a  sieve.  It  is  in 
one  ear  and  out  of  the  other. 

Some  people  have  a  sort  of  religious  dissipation  in 
attending  revival  services  and  imagine  that  they 
have  accomplished  a  great  deal  if  they  simply  go. 
People  easily  acquire  itching  ears  that  love  to  be 
tickled  with  some  sensation.  The  word  takes  no 
root  in  the  hearts  of  such  men.  They  run  from 
church  to  church  to  get  a  new  word,  a  sort  of  soda- 
water  habit.  They  deceive  themselves  (napaXoyi^ofie- 
vot),  but  nobody  else.  These  spiritual  "gad-abouts" 
are  shallow  and  skim  the  surface  only.  They  make  a 
sort  of  moving-picture  show,  but  accomplish  nothing 
substantial  in  their  own  lives  nor  in  the  work  of  the 
kingdom.  They  are  guilty  of  a  logical  fallacy  (napa- 
Xoytofiog)  and  are  the  victims  of  their  own  delusions 
(cf.  Col.  2:4).  One  has  thus  a  case  of  auto- intoxica- 
tion. He  has  inoculated  himself  with  the  virus  of 
his  own  error. 

And  now  James  draws  a  wonderfully  vivid  pic- 
ture of  the  idle  hearers,  the  hangers-on  in  revival 
meetings,  like  the  scum  that  comes  first  to  the  sur- 
face, light-hearted,  impulsive,  nonchalant,  without 


98     PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

depth  of  purpose  or  seriousness  in  life.  Such  a 
frivolous  listener  glances  at  (Karavoovvrt)  his  face  in 
a  mirror,  taking  note  to  see  that  he  looked  natural 
'and  proper.  A  quick  look  suffices  for  that,  for  "his 
natural  face"  (to  Trpoooonov  tt\<;  yeveaecjg  avrov),  the  face 
of  his  birth,  the  only  one  that  he  has.  If  nothing  is 
awry  about  his  appearance  reflected  in  the  mirror 
(kv  eloon-po)),  he  is  satisfied  (or  dissatisfied)  with  the 
momentary  glance.1  The  mirror  was  probably  of 
metal  and  the  word  is  often  used  by  the  poets 
(Mayor).  Here  the  mirror  is  the  Word  of  God 
(spoken  or  written),  in  which  one  takes  a  look  at 
himself,  and  the  quick  and  superficial  view  brings 
satisfaction  or  a  passing  pang.  See  i  Cor.  13:  12 
for  the  use  of  mirror  for  the  imperfect  knowledge  of 
Christ  through  reflection  in  the  Word  of  God  and 
in  life  contrasted  with  the  blessed  reality  when  face 
to  face  with  him  (Mayor).  But  here  in  James  the 
man  tarries  by  the  mirror  for  a  moment  and  is  soon 
off  for  good  (anehrjkvdev) . 

All  that  he  saw  in  the  Word  of  God  is  now  out  of 
sight  and  out  of  mind,  like  the  wayside  hearers  in 
Christ's  parable.  If  it  was  a  sermon  that  he  heard, 
the  impulses  for  good  quickly  die  away.  He  is  back 
at  his  business  or  at  his  club  or  even  in  his  home. 
He  straightway  forgot  (kneXddeTo)  what  he  was  like 
(bnolog  -qv),  what  sort  of  man  he  was  in  the  mirror. 
In  particular,  any  unpleasant  features  are  forgotten. 
The  momentary  trembling  of  the  conscience  no 
longer   bothers   him.      Alas,    alas,   how   easily    the 

1  Karev6^aev  punctiliar  action  (aorist).  The  aorists  here  are  gno- 
mic, and  the  perfect  anMfivdiv  adds  also  a  touch  of  life. 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD         99 

burning  heat  of  the  day  withers  the  tender  shoots 
in  the  stony  ground,  the  weeds  and  thorns  choke 
to  death  the  pious  aspirations  of  the  better 
hours. 

6.  Real  Students  of  the  Word.    1:25. 

The  image  of  the  mirror  is  carried  on  into  the 
picture  of  the  doer  of  the  word,  the  "doer  that 
worketh,"  a  doer  of  work  (rro^-nfc  epyov),  "an  active 
agent"  (Moffatt).  The  phrase  is  tautological,  but 
very  emphatic.  He  is  not  only  a  doer  of  word 
(Xoyov),  but  a  doer  of  deeds  (sgyov).  He  has  put  the 
word  into  practice  and  has  brought  practical  result. 
He  has  transmuted  word  into  deed.  This  is  what 
counts,  the  practice  of  the  Word  of  God,  not  mere 
glancing  at  the  mirror  nor  chatter  about  what  one 
saw  or  picked  up,  not  a  hearer  of  forgetfulness 
(aicpoaTT)g  kmXrjofiovrjg).  It  is  astonishing  what  poor 
memories  men  have  for  what  God  says.  The  Doc- 
trine of  Addai  gives  as  an  uncanonical  saying  of 
Jesus  this:  "That  which  we  preach  before  the  people 
by  word  we  should  practise  by  deed  in  the  sight  of 
all." 

The  sincere  listener  pauses  long  enough  to  become 
interested  in  the  real  meaning  of  the  word  of  God, 
which  is  now  law  (vopov)  to  him,  for  he  wishes  to  obey 
this  word  of  the  Master.  These  listeners  are  the  joy 
of  the  preacher's  heart,  those  who  turn  to  the 
Scriptures,  like  the  Bereans,  to  see  if  there  things 
are  so  (Acts  17:  11).  The  word  (napaicvxpas)  in  James 
suggests  curiosity  and  eagerness,  as  in  Sir.  14:  23,  of 
the  one  who  looks  through  the  door  of  wisdom  and 


ioo  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

in  i  Pet.  i :  12  of  the  desire  of  the  angels  to  peer  into 
the  problems  of  the  mission  of  Christ  to  earth.1 
The  law  of  God  is  attractive  to  the  doer  of  work  as 
perfect  (riXetov),  as  the  Psalmist  has  it:  "The  law  of 
the  Lord  is  perfect"  (Psa.  19:  7).  But  it  is  not  a  law 
of  compulsion,  but  of  freedom  (eXevdepiag) .  One  is 
free  to  accept  or  to  reject  it.  Certainly  James  does 
not  have  the  view  of  the  Judaizers  who  made  the  law 
a  yoke  of  bondage  even  for  Gentiles,  but  rather  that 
of  Paul,  who  accented  the  freedom  in  Christ  (Gal. 
5:1).  Jesus  held  out  freedom  as  the  great  blessing 
of  truth  (John  8:32),  freedom  to  exercise  one's 
highest  functions  and  faculties  held  in  bondage  by 
sin  and  mere  legalism. 

Perhaps  the  chief  emphasis  in  this  verse  lies  in 
the  word  "continueth"  (irapaneivag) .  The  man  re- 
mains by  the  side  of  the  roll  of  the  law  spread  out 
before  him  and  unrolls  page  after  page  with  the 
keenest  interest  and  zest  till  he  rightly  grasps  the 
meaning  of  God.  Thus  he  puts  the  word  into 
practice.  He  has  it  stamped  on  his  mind  and  heart. 
He  is  a  Christian  Pragmatist.  He,  like  Brother  Law- 
rance,  practises  the  presence  of  God.  He  translates 
the  word  of  truth  into  his  own  life,  and  becomes  a 
living  epistle.  This  is  the  Bible  that  the  Twentieth 
Century  loves  to  read.  The  man  who  does  this  is 
"happy  in  his  doing,"  "blessed  in  his  activity" 
(Moffatt).2  He  is  happy  in  the  doing  even  if  it  falls 
far  short  of  the  ideal  in  the  word  of  truth.    He  has 


1  Epictetus  (Bk.  I,  chap,  i,  §  16)  has  this:  Ko%t#o  onb/xevot  nai 
irapaaijirTo/iev  ai/ve^oc,  rig  avefiot;  nvel. 

2  [ta.Ka.pioi;  h>  tij  KotT/ati  avrou. 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD       101 

tried  and  he  will  keep  on  trying.  He  can  sing  the 
song  of  the  shirt,  the  song  of  the  plow,  the  song  of 
the  desk. 

7.  Complacent  Religiosity.     1 :  26. 

Mere  listening  may  be  idle.  Mere  work  may  be 
perfunctory.  One  may  be  a  worker  only  as  well  as  a 
hearer  only.  The  hearer  only  deceives  himself  by  an 
error  of  reason  (rrapaXoyt^6fj,evog,  1:22).  The  worker 
only  deceives  his  own  heart  (anaruv  tcapdiav  kavrov)  by 
an  error  of  conduct.  He  leads  himself  astray,  out  of 
the  path  (airarcbv)  by  the  delusion  that  religion 
(6p7}oiceia)  consisted  in  the  performance  of  religious 
duties  (dprjoKeia)  ,l  not  in  the  attitude  toward  God  in 
the  heart  nor  the  ethical  conduct.  Josephus  uses  it 
also  of  the  attendance  of  the  priests  on  public  wor- 
ship.2 Paul  uses  the  term  for  Pharisaism  (Acts 
26:5),  and  in  Col.  2:18  for  the  worship  of  the 
angels.  It  is  the  external  aspect  of  public  worship. 
Originally  it  had  the  meaning  of  reverence  for  the 
gods  (Hort),  but  it  soon  came  to  be  used  for  the 
ceremonial  rites  of  worship.  In  4  Mace.  5 : 6  the 
word  is  used  for  the  refusal  of  the  Jews  to  eat 
pork. 

In  a  word,  it  is  applied  to  one  who  does  faithfully 
the  religious  chores.     The  Pharisees  form  a  striking 

1  In  P.  Rain,  107  (ii/A.  D.)  we  have  al  dpqaKEiat  in  the  sense  of 
religious  duties.  Dittenberger  (Syll.,  656)  gives  Optione'ia  from  an 
inscription  where  it  means  "the  keeping  of  the  month  Artemision  as 
sacred  to  the  tutelary  goddess"  (Moulton  and  Milligan,  Lexical  Notes, 
Expositor,  May,  1909,  p.  473). 

2  Ant.  ix.  13.  3,  Iva  ael  rrj  dprioneia  napafieivuci.  Philo  distinguishes 
between  evuefieca,  dprjenccia,  and  6ci6t7jc  (M.  I.  195). 


102   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

illustration  of  this  emphasis  on  the  ceremonial  side 
of  public  worship.  The  regular  attendance  at  the 
hours  of  prayer,  faithful  observance  of  the  rules  of 
ritual  purification,  payment  of  the  tithes,  these  things 
constituted  worship.  Finally,  these  alone  constituted 
worship.  Religion  came  to  consist  in  the  ceremony 
alone,  the  letter  and  not  the  spirit,  the  hull  and  not 
the  kernel.  Most  of  the  things  done  were  good 
enough.  It  is  best  to  have  the  outside  of  the  cup 
clean,  but  not  so  important  as  the  inside  nor  as 
clean  water  in  the  cup.  Jesus  exposed  this  failing  of 
the  Pharisees  with  great  incisiveness  and  power.  It 
is  easy  to  mistake  form  for  reality.  So  men  have 
come  to  count  their  beads  as  prayer,  to  pray 
with  prayer  wheels.  One  may  attend  church  regu- 
larly, contribute  liberally,  come  to  prayer  meeting, 
have  family  prayers,  be  a  member  of  the  church, 
and  yet  not  be  religious.  He  may  have  religiosity 
and  not  religion.  One  may  mistake  performance  of 
religious  functions  for  the  possession  of  the  spirit  of 
religion.  In  the  very  act  of  working  out  the  religious 
impulse  men  often  fall  into  traps.  A  deacon  once 
asked  his  boy  if  he  had  put  sand  in  the  sugar  and 
rocks  in  the  coffee.  If  so,  he  could  come  on  to  pray- 
ers. So  here  the  man  considers  (doicel)  that  he  is  a 
religious  man  (dprjonog,  religiosus  in  Vulgate).  He  is 
content  with  his  religious  status  and  yet  he  does  not 
control  his  tongue.  He  does  not  bridle  (xaXivayuryuv) 
his  own  tongue,  the  earliest  known  use  of  this  strik- 
ing figure,  though  Aristophanes  (Ran.  862)  speaks  of 
an  unbridled  mouth  (dxdXivov  oTOfia).  The  tongue  is 
regarded  as  an  unruly  horse  that  needs  bit  and 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD       103 

bridle  held  fast  by  the  master  to  control  it.  The 
tongue  is  allowed  to  say  whatever  a  spiteful  heart 
prompts.  The  bitterest  words  are  not  felt  to  be 
inconsistent  with  personal  piety.  Such  a  man  con- 
siders himself  a  pillar  of  the  church  in  spite  of  his 
loose  tongue  and  loose  living.  He  performs  religious 
duties  on  Sunday  and  is  a  shyster  on  Monday.  He 
deceives  himself,  but  no  one  else  is  deceived.  Such 
a  man's  religious  service  is  empty  of  any  value 
with  God  or  man.  It  is  vain  {(idTatog)  and  hollow 
mockery.  His  own  complacency  makes  the  mat- 
ter worse.  He  is  a  stumbling-block  to  those  who 
judge  religion  by  him,  for  he  has  divorced  religion 
from  life. 

8.  Unspotted  from  the  World.     1:27. 

James  does  not  give  a  definition  of  religion  in  this 
verse,  but  an  illustration  of  the  right  sort  of  reli- 
gious exercise  in  contrast  with  the  futile  religiosity 
already  noted.  The  absence  of  the  article  (dprjcnteia) 
shows  that  he  does  not  mean  an  inclusive  descrip- 
tion. "A  religious  exercise  pure  and  undefiled" 
(6p7jOKeia  Kadapa  teal  dulavrog)1  is  here  given  quite  the 
opposite  of  the  professional  performances  of  the 
Pharisaic  pietists.  There  is  pure  religion  and  the 
counterfeit  is  a  tribute  to  it.  This  religion  is  free 
from  pollution.  There  is  in  it  no  alloy  of  selfishness 
nor  other  sin.  Moffatt  renders  it  "unsoiled,"  but  it 
may  have  the  notion  of  genuine  metal.    This  stand- 

1  This  use  of  afiiavroq  comes  from  the  LXX,  not  from  the  Mystery- 
Religions  when  the  initiate  came  from  the  Taurobolium  in  the  blood- 
stained robe. 


104   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

ard  of  purity  and  piety  seems  impossible,  but  God 
knows  how  to  estimate  the  relation  between  listen- 
ing and  doing,  between  doing  and  loving,  between 
loving  and  purity  of  life.  The  life  must  pass 
muster  with  God  (wapd  tu  8t&  nai  naryi).  At  first 
sight  one  is  perhaps  depressed  by  the  reflection 
that  God's  standard  of  piety  is  so  much  higher 
than  is  ours.  What  some  men  consider  holy 
worship  is  to  God  hollow  mockery.  But  then 
God  is  our  Father.  He  planted  the  word  of  truth 
in  our  hearts.  He  has  watched  it  grow.  He 
knows  the  limitations  of  environment  in  which  the 
tree  of  life  has  grown. 

James  gives  two  very  practical  tests  of  genuine 
religion.  One  is  mercy  toward  the  suffering.  The 
widow  and  the  orphan  appeal  to  the  hardest  hearts. 
And  yet  men  have  been  known  to  spend  thousands 
of  dollars  upon  palaces  of  worship  while  the  poor 
perished  in  the  alley  behind  the  church.  The  social 
side  of  practical  religion  is  receiving  more  attention 
these  days  than  it  once  did.  The  very  hospitals  and 
asylums  are  an  expression  of  that  love  for  our  com- 
mon humanity  taught  by  Jesus.  James  has  no 
sympathy  with  that  cold  orthodoxy  that  is  satis- 
fied with  singing  psalms  to  Jehovah  while  the  widow 
and  the  orphan  suffer,  with  no  help  from  the  blind 
worshipers  nearby.  Christianity  is  inward  and  spirit- 
ual, not  mere  perfunctory  ritual.  But  it  is  not  mere 
mystical  brooding  nor  abstract  contemplation.  The 
cry  of  the  child  was  heard  by  Jesus  and  the  cry  of  the 
mother  for  the  child.  To-day  the  children  cry  aloud 
in  our  streets  and  in  our  factories  for  school  and  play, 


THE  PRACTICE  OF  THE  WORD       105 

for  love  and  sympathy,  for  better  homes  and  better 
food,  for  care  of  the  body  and  of  the  soul.  Jesus  still 
loves  the  children.  Christ  discovered  the  child.  The 
modern  world  at  last  has  begun  to  find  out  the  child 
that  Jesus  has  placed  in  the  midst  of  us.  There  are 
many  other  forms  of  social  service  which  the  true 
Christian  may  find  right  by  his  door.  The  neighbor 
in  need  may  even  lie  at  his  gate. 

The  other  test  of  pure  religion  offered  by  James  is 
more  distinctly  personal  and  more  difficult,  though 
the  first  test  is  met  none  too  well.  It  is  "to  keep 
oneself  unspotted  from  the  world"  (damXov  kavrdv 
ripely  and  tov  Koa/xov).  Moffatt  has  it  "from  the 
stain  of  the  world."  It  is  a  high  calling  surely  if  one 
is  to  walk  in  a  world  like  this  free  from  the  stain  of 
sin,  with  no  spot  (cmiXog)  upon  garments,  body,  or 
soul.  The  Lamb  of  God  was  offered  as  a  sacrifice 
without  spot.  Christ  will  present  his  church  at  last 
without  spot  (p)  l%ovaav  o-niXov).1  James  had  just 
spoken  of  the  use  of  the  tongue.  That  also  can 
leave  a  spot  or  stain  (cf .  3:6).  There  is  dirt  and 
much  of  all  kinds  all  about  us.  The  germs  of  sin 
infest  and  infect  us  all.  And  yet  it  is  not  hopeless 
to  make  a  fight  for  purity  in  life.  We  do  not  give 
up  the  battle  for  cleanliness  of  body,  for  healthful- 
ness  of  body,  for  victory  over  the  germs  of  disease 
all  about  us  and  in  us.  It  is  worth  while  to  lead  the 
clean,  white  life  of  purity.  One -has  his  reward  in 
one's  own  life,  in  fresh  power,  in  new  joy,  in  richer 


1  Cf.  I.  G.  II.  V.  1054  c.4  (Eleusis  c.  B.  C.  300),  tyms  %evicovg  aoni- 
Xovc,  "applied  to  stones"  (Moulton  and  Milligan,  Vocabulary  of  the 
N.  T.,  p.  86). 


106   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

fruitage.  He  has  his  reward  also  in  the  inspiration 
given  to  others  who  are  cheered  to  strive  likewise 
against  sin,  to  fight  for  personal  purity,  for  social 
purity,  for  better  homes  and  better  cities,  for  a  better 
world  in  which  to  serve  God,  for  a  bit  of  heaven  here 
on  earth,  for  the  reign  of  God  in  human  hearts,  for 
likeness  to  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Class  Prejudice.     2 : 1-13 

In  this  paragraph  James  recurs  to  the  discussion 
of  the  "Democracy  of  Faith"  found  in  1:  9-1 1.  In 
fact,  it  had  never  been  very  far  in  the  background. 
The  use  of  "my  brethren"  is  eminently  appropriate 
here,  since  he  is  urging  the  readers  to  brotherly 
kindness  (Mayor). 

1.  Face  Value  in  Religion.    2:1/ 

This  is  a  very  hard  verse  to  translate  at  once,  for 
we  must  decide  three  disputed  questions.  One  is 
whether  the  verb  (firj  exETf)  is  imperative  or  interrog- 
ative. It  is  usually  taken  as  imperative  in  the 
versions,  and  so  most  interpreters  hold,  but  Hort 
urges  that  it  is  a  tame  conception  compared  with 
the  indignant  query  expecting  the  answer  no  (firj). 
There  is  force  in  this  point,  as  thus  James  would  be 
expressing  vehement  surprise  that  such  partiality 
could  exist  among  the  Jewish  Christians.  Still,  the 
prohibition  against  such  partiality  makes  perfectly 
good  sense.  There  is  little  doubt  that  "the  faith  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  (ttjv  ttIotiv  tov  kvq'cov  %wv 
'Irjoov  Xpiorov)  should  be  rendered  "faith  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  It  is  objective,  not  subjective,  geni- 
tive.  For  a  similar  use  of  the  objective  genitive  with 
faith  (maris)  one  may  note  Mark  11:  22  (exere  moTiv 

deov) ,  Acts  3:16  (t^I  TriareC  tov  ovofiarog  avrov) .     It  is 

not  the  faith  of  Jesus  that  is  under  discussion,  but 

107 


io8   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

the  faith  of  the  readers  in  Jesus  Christ  Our  Lord. 
This  interpretation  commits  James  to  the  worship 
of  Jesus  as  Lord  and  Messiah,  but  that  is  surely 
what  would  be  expected  in  one  who  claimed  to  be 
a  "servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ" 
(i:  i).  It  is  true  that  the  standpoint  of  James  is 
nearer  to  that  of  the  Old  Testament  than  is  true  of 
Peter,  John,  and  Paul,  but  after  the  great  Pentecost 
there  seems  to  be  no  wavering  on  the  great  funda- 
mentals of  Christianity,  though  there  is  rich  de- 
velopment and  enlargement.  The  essence  of  the 
Christology  of  James  is  precisely  that  of  Paul, 
though  James  does  not  amplify  his  implications  as 
Paul  does.  James,  though  so  Jewish  in  background, 
is  thoroughly  Christian.  The  heart  of  Christianity, 
the  worship  of  Jesus  as  Lord  and  Saviour,  is  here, 
though  chronologically  the  Epistle  of  James  pre- 
cedes the  teaching  of  Paul  and  John  in  their  writ- 
ings. It  is  like  the  child  and  the  man  (Plummer) 
and  not  a  retrograde  movement.  It  is  the  outlook 
of  Jerusalem,  not  that  of  Antioch.  What  James  is 
discussing  is  not  the  personal  religion  of  Jesus,  but 
the  reader's  faith  in  Jesus. 

The  third  disputed  point  in  the  verse  is  the  word 
"glory"  (i%  dofyg).  The  English  versions  generally 
insert  the  words  "the  Lord"  and  make  it  "the  Lord 
of  glory,"  but  Bengel  makes  "the  glory"  ipse  Chris- 
tus.  In  this  he  is  followed  by  Mayor,  Hort,  Oesterley, 
and  it  is  almost  certainly  true  that  by  "glory" 
{gloria,  Vulgate)  James  has  in  mind  the  Shekinah. 
In  the  Septuagint  for  Lev.  26:  11  the  word  for 
Shekinah    (<jkt]v^)  is  just  that  used  in   Rev.   21:3: 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  109 

"Behold,  the  tabernacle  (oktjvtj)  of  God  is  with  men." 
In  John  1 :  14  we  read:  "And  the  Word  became  flesh, 
and  dwelt  {eoKr\vwoev)  among  us  (and  we  beheld  his 
glory,  glory  as  of  the  only-begotten  from  the 
Father)."  Add  to  this  Heb.  1:3,  "who,  being  the 
effulgence  of  his  glory,"  and  the  case  seems  made 
out.1  In  Pirke  Aboth  iii.  3  we  note:  "Two  that  sit 
together  and  are  occupied  in  words  of  Thorah  have 
the  Shekinah  among  them."  Jesus  claimed  (Matt. 
18:20):  "For  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  in 
my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  Jesus 
is  thus  not  only  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life,  the 
Resurrection,  but  also  the  Glory.  James  may  have 
in  mind  the  Resurrection  Glory  of  Jesus  as  he  ap- 
peared to  him.  Note  in  Luke  2:32  what  Simeon 
says:  "The  glory  of  thy  people  Israel." 

But  all  this  is  by  way  of  emphasis  for  the  main 
point.  One  who  has  faith  in  such  a  Lord  as  Jesus  is 
should  not  be  guilty  of  "acts  of  partiality"  (Hort, 
kv  Trpoou)7ToX7][i^)iat.g) .  The  meaning  of  the  phrase  is 
clear,  though  the  origin  is  obscure.2  The  Greek  use 
of  the  word  (ttqoctotcov)  for  mask  is  illustrated  by  the 
word  for  hypocrite  (imonpiTijg) .     In  Lev.   19:  15  we 

1  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Epictetus  (Bk.  Ill,  chap,  xxii,  §  29) 
uses  ^6^a  (riyv  dot-av  /cat  tt)v  imtyavetav)  in  the  sense  of  "glory"  (cf. 
Titus  2:13),  not  the  classic  sense  of  "opinion." 

1  The  Hebrew  n&sa  panim  (cf .  Psa.  82 : 2)  originally  had  the  idea 
of  lifting  the  face  with  a  view  to  comfort.  Partiality  was  a  subor- 
dinate development.  Cf.  Thackeray,  Grammar  of  the  O.  T.  in 
Greek,  pp.  43  ff.  The  Greek  idiom  (jrpdounov  lafifiavetv)  has  only 
the  bad  meaning  and  comes  from  taking  off  the  mask  (npdounov). 
See  Luke  20:21;  Gal.  2 : 6  f .  for  the  full  idiom.  See  Epictetus,  Ench. 
xvii  vTconpiTriq  el  dpafxaroc  .  .  .  abv  yap  tovt'  eon,  to  dodev  vnonpiveafiai 
irpdouirov  nafa'jf.    Here  np6ounov  means  "character"  or  "part." 


no   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

see  the  full  force  of  the  idiom:  "Thou  shalt  not 
respect  the  person  of  the  poor,  nor  honor  the  person 
of  the  mighty"  (ov  X^/xrpy  Trpoounov  tttojxov  ovde  fiij  6av- 
\ida^q  ttqoocjttov  dwaorov).  See  Acts  10:  34,  where  Peter 
learns  that  "God  is  no  respecter  of  persons"  (ovk 
zotiv  npooijTToXriiiiTTTrjg  6  deog).  God  does  not  accept  the 
outside  appearance  for  the  inner  reality,  nor  should 
we.  God  is  the  God  of  reality.  Cf.  Heb.  4:  i2f. 
A  just  judge  must  not  be  influenced  by  the  bias  of 
personal  preference,  prejudice,  rank,  power,  money 
(Mayor).  He  must  decide  the  case  on  its  merits. 
There  is  no  room  for  class  prejudice  nor  for  the  caste- 
system  in  Christianity,  as  there  is  none  in  the  heart 
of  God.  Christianity  is  democratic  to  the  core,  that 
is,  real  Christianity.  Organized  Christianity  has 
sometimes  been  just  the  very  thing  that  James  here 
condemns.  Even  in  the  single  church  little  rifts  and 
cliques  easily  come. 

2.  Partiality  in  Church.     2:  2-4. 

Already  the  Jewish  Christians  were  in  peril  from 
this  evil.  It  is  in  particular  a  sin  of  ushers  who  show 
respect  of  persons  in  seating  strangers.  But  pastors 
are  in  constant  danger  of  the  same  sin  in  general 
church  relations.  The  word  here  for  synagogue 
(awaycjyTj)  may  mean  place  of  worship  or  the  assembly 
itself,  as  in  Heb.  10:  25,  "the  assembling  (kmowa- 
yoyyri)  of  yourselves  together."  The  word  for  church 
(eKK^Tjaia)  does  not  occur  in  the  apostolic  period 
(Hort)  for  place  of  meeting,  but  synagogue  was 
already  in  common  use  in  both  senses.  But  it  is 
not  necessary  to  suppose  that  James  has  in  mind 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  in 

simply  a  Jewish  synagogue,  though  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  the  Jewish  Christians  still  attended  wor- 
ship and  heard  Moses  read  in  the  synagogue  (Acts 
15:  2 1),  as  Christians  belonged  to  the  synagogue  of 
the  Libertines  (Acts  6 :  9)  and  the  early  Christians 
worshiped  still  in  the  temple.  The  use  of  "your" 
seems  to  mean  that  it  is  at  least  a  Christian  gath- 
ering that  James  refers  to  whether  meeting  in 
the  Jewish  synagogue  or  elsewhere.  "The  growth 
of  the  Gentile  element  in  the  church  excited  the 
active  hostility  of  the  Jews  against  the  whole  body 
of  Christians,  as  it  troubled  the  Jewish  converts 
themselves"  (Westcott  on  Hebrews,  p.  xxxviii). 
Finally  the  Christians  had  to  set  up  for  themselves 
as  in  Corinth  (Acts  18:7)  and  in  Ephesus  (Acts 
19:  8f.).  We  do  not  know  the  precise  stage  reached 
by  the  Jewish  Christians  here.  James  may  mean 
some  particular  instance  of  trouble  in  the  Disper- 
sion that  has  come  to  his  notice  or  he  may  have 
in  mind  any  Christian  gathering  in  the  Dispersion. 
The  Gentiles  often  attended  the  worship  of  the 
Jews  in  the  synagogues  (Acts  13:  16,  43).  The  use 
of  synagogue  for  Christian  worship  occurs  rarely,  as 
in  Hermas,  Mand.  xi.  9.  The  time  came  when 
synagogue  was  used  only  for  Jews  or  heretics. 
Epiphanius  (Haer.  xxx.  18)  says  that  the  Ebionites 
call  their  meeting  synagogue,  not  church  (eicicJiTjota). 
One  may  note  also  John's  use  of  the  term  synagogue 
of  Satan  (Rev.  2  :  9;  3  :  9). 

The  picture  of  the  two  strangers  at  church  is 
drawn  with  bold  lines  and  in  few  words  by  James, 
yet  it  is  remarkably  clear  and  picturesque.     The 


112   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

man  with  a  -gold  ring  or  gold-fingered  (xpvoodaKTv- 
Xtog)  probably  makes  a  display  of  his  ring.  If  he 
preached  he  would  make  most  of  his  gestures  with 
that  hand.  The  word  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the 
New  Testament.1  Mayor  quotes  Epictetus  (Diss. 
i.  22)  as  speaking  of  an  "old  man  with  gold  fingers" 
(yepwv  X9va°v(;  <5<iktvXiov<;  ex(jiV)-  The  "fine  clothing" 
(kv  kadJjrt.  Xafx-nga)  is  literally  "brilliant  clothing," 
"new  glossy  clothes"  (Hort),  "the  fine  white  gar- 
ment worn  by  wealthy  Jews"  (Oesterley),  like  that 
in  which  Herod  Antipas  clad  Jesus  when  he  sent 

him  back  to  Pilate  (nEpifiaX&v  eadrjra  Xafinpdv).      One 

can  easily  see  the  distinguished  looking  stranger  as 
he  steps  in  at  the  same  time  (icai,  also)  as  "a  poor 
man  in  vile  clothing"  (tctuxos  ev  pvnapa  lodrjTt),  ^in 
dirty  clothes"  (Moffat),  "old  shabby  clothes"  (Hort). 
See  Rev.  22:  11  for  the  same  adjective  for  "filthy" 
(6  pv-rrapog).  In  James  1 :  21  we  had  "filthiness"  (pvna- 
giav).  We  have  no  means  of  knowing  whether  these 
two  men  who  suddenly  enter  church  are  Chris- 
tians or  mere  Jews.  Both  seem  to  be  strangers.  The 
courtesies  extended  are  based  purely  on  the  appear- 
ance of  these  two  as  to  dress,  not  on  race  or  ecclesi- 
astical standing.  The  poor  man  (tttuxos)  may  be  one 
reduced  to  beggary,  a  tramp  or  hobo.  He  may  be 
merely  a  poor  working  man.  He  stands  in  marked 
contrast  with  the  rich  man  (nXovotog),  as  in  1:  9-1 1. 
Probably  the  poor  man  had  on  the  best  clothes 
that  he  had.  Should  a  man  like  that  come  to  our 
churches?  Would  he  be  welcome  in  our  pews?  To 
be  sure,  cases  occur  when  a  bath  would  help  matters 

1  Lucian  (Trin.  20)  has  xPva&XeiP- 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  113 

and  when  plain,  but  clean,  clothes  could  be  provided  - 
by  Christian  people  so  as  to  make  attendance  at 
church  free  from  embarrassment.  But  there  are 
people,  especially  children,  who  stay  away  from  both 
Sunday  school  and  church  because  they  do  not 
possess  decent  clothes  in  which  to  come.  They  fear 
the  critical  eyes  and  comments  of  the  people  at 
church.  It  is  easy  to  say  that  people  should  rise 
above  such  unfavorable  circumstances  and  come  on 
to  church  to  worship  God,  who  reads  the  heart  and 
does  not  judge  men  by .  their  clothes.  Yes,  but  a 
man  may  conclude  that  he  can  worship  God  just 
as  acceptably  and  more  comfortably  in  some  other 
church  where  the  usher  does  not  seem  ashamed  of 
his  coming  nor  embarrassed  by  his  presence,  so  that, 
in  spite  of  plenty  of  empty  pews  in  the  grand  temple 
of  worship,  he  finds  a  back  seat  for  him  under  the 
gallery  or  in  the  gallery  on  a  footstool  (literally, 
vnd  to  vTTonodiov  fiov  is  "under  my  footstool,"  prob- 
ably on  the  floor  by  my  footstool)  in  a  corner  or  a 
place  to  stand  against  the  wall.  Meanwhile  the 
poor  man  has  seen  the  attentions  paid  the  man  in 
fine  clothes  because  of  his  clothes,  who  is  ushered  to 
a  good  seat  (naXtig)  with  the  air  of  a  prince.  The 
soul  of  the  poor  man  is  all  the  more  embittered 
since  he  came  in  perhaps  in  a  sort  of  desperation 
from  the  hardness  of  the  world  outside,  a  world 
that  has  economic  and  social  laws  that  make  the 
battle  a  difficult  one.  And  now  in  the  temple  of 
God  the  worshipers  of  Jesus  show  the  same  pride  of 
wealth  and  station  as  at  a  social  function.  The 
preacher  preaches  forgiveness  of  sins  and  the  com- 


ii4   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

fort  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  he  and  the  usher  keep 
a  sharp  eye  (eiri(l/i6if>TjTe)  upon  the  man  who  wears 
the  fine  clothes,  pompous  and  self-conscious  as  that 
man  probably  feels.  The  soul  of  the  poor  man  is 
made  more  bitter  still  as  he  leaves  the  church  of  the 
rich  and  the  proud  to  see  if  he  can  find  God  at 
home  or  the  devil  in  the  saloon  or  other  den  of 
iniquity.  One  pity  of  it  all  is  that  so  many  churches 
have  fine,  empty,  cushioned  seats,  while  the  strangers 
who  could  fill  them  are  not  sought  for  or  not  properly 
welcomed  if  they  come.  It  is  a  pathetic  picture  that 
James  here  gives  us,  that  of  the  stranger  at  the  door 
of  the  church.  Most  strangers  pass  the  door  of  the 
church  by  with  indifference  or  disgust.  The  church 
must  win  the  strangers  outside  unless  it  is  to  degene- 
rate into  a  social  club  of  a  few  select  families.  A 
church  that  only  holds  its  own  will  soon  lose  that 
standing.  The  task  of  the  church  is  to  win  the  world 
to  Christ.  And  then,  when  the  poor  of  earth  enter, 
it  is  worse  than  folly  to  push  them  to  one  side  and 
out  of  doors  back  into  the  street. 

This  touch  of  life  is  one  of  many  modern  notes  in 
the  Epistle  of  James.  The  embarrassment  of  the 
usher  in  the  presence  of  two  such  incongruous 
strangers  at  once  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  he 
knows  full  well  the  atmosphere  or  tone  of  the  church. 
It  is  aristocratic  or  select;  evangelical  and  orthodox, 
not  evangelistic  or  missionary;  a  haven  of  rest  for 
the  stately  pious,  not  a  rescue  station  for  the  lost. 
The  officers  of  the  church  thus  make  distinctions 
(6teicpidi]Te)  between  the  attendants  at  church  and 
sort    out    the    congregation    according    to   worldly 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  115 

standards.  They  are  "judges  of  evil  thoughts" 
(npirai  6caXoyiafio)v  Trovrjqoiv)  and  act  with  partiality 
in  bestowing  courtesies  on  strangers  in  the  house 
of  God.  All  this  is  in  such  marked  contrast  to  the 
spirit  and  conduct  of  Jesus  that  one  can  hardly 
credit  his  eyes  when  he  sees  it  happen  in  church.  It 
is  increasingly  difficult  to  get  the  poor  to  come  to 
some  of  the  churches.  The  churches  themselves  may 
sometimes  become  suspicious  that  the  very  poor 
come  to  church  to  receive  financial  help.  So  the 
breach  widens. 

3.  Prejudice  Against  the  Poor.    2  :  5-7. 

James  now  has  fewer  maxims  and  a  more  argu- 
mentative style,  like  that  of  Paul.  He  makes  a 
passionate  appeal  for  attention:  "Hearken,  my  be- 
loved brethren."  He  writes  as  an  impassioned 
speaker  speaks  (cf.  1:16;  4:13).  God's  choice  of 
the  people  of  Israel  seems  to  be  in  the  background 
(Deut.  14:  if.)1  The  Jews  had  come  in  many  cases 
to  look  on  earthly  prosperity  as  a  mark  of  divine 
favor  and  poverty  as  a  sign  of  God's  disfavor  (cf .  Psa. 
73).  The  Pharisees  were  lovers  of  money  (<piXdpyv- 
poi,  Luke  16:14).  But  the  troubles  of  the  Jews, 
in  spite  of  many  wealthy  Pharisees  and  Sadducees, 
had  led  many  of  them  to  see  a  blessing  in  poverty. 
See  Testament  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  Gad. 
vii.  6:  "For  the  poor  man,  if,  free  from  envy,  he 
pleaseth  the  Lord  in  all  things,  is  blessed  beyond 
all  men."  Oesterley  (in  loco)  quotes  Chag.  9b  as 
saying  that  poverty  is  the  quality  that  above  all 

1  There  the  same  word  e^eM^aro  occurs  of  God  with  Aadv  nepiovaiov. 


Ii6   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

befits  Israel  as  the  chosen  people.  Epictetus  (Bk. 
IV,  chap,  i,  §  43)  says:  "Another  (thinks  the  cause 
of  his  evils  to  be)  that  he  is  poor"  (6  6'  on  nrooxog  eonv, 
using  nroxog  in  the  sense  of  "poor,"  not  "beggar"). 
Epictetus  (Stob.  10)  says  further:  "Riches  (nXovrog) 
are  not  among  the  things  that  are  good."  Luke 
6:20  has  "Blessed  are  ye  poor"  (ol  nnoxoi)  where 
Matt.  5:3  has  "poor  in  spirit."  Certain  it  is  that 
the  gospel  made  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  poorer 
classes  of  society  among  Jews  and  Gentiles.  Jesus 
claimed  it  as  part  of  his  Messianic  mission  "to 
preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor"  (Luke  4:  18),  as 
Isaiah  (60:  if.)  had  foretold.  He  asked  the  mes- 
sengers of  John  the  Baptist  to  take  back  to  Machae- 
rus  the  news  that  "the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached 
to  them"  (Luke  7:  22)  as  one  proof  of  his  Messiah- 
ship.  Paul  enlarges  on  the  choice1  by  God  of  the 
foolish,  the  weak,  the  despised  classes  to  add  to  his 
own  glory.  The  early  churches  were  largely  gath- 
ered from  the  proletariat.  Slaves  and  masters,  rich 
and  poor,  mingled  together  in  fellowship  and  broth- 
erly love.  The  papyri  discoveries  have  shown  us  the 
world  of  Jesus  and  of  Paul  "in  the  workaday  clothes 
of  their  calling"  (Deissmann,  St.  Paul,  p.  47).  Deiss- 
mann  adds:  "We  should  be  sorry  indeed  not  to  have 
been  told  that  Jesus  came  from  an  artisan's  home  in 
country  surroundings."  The  fact  that  Jesus  was  a 
carpenter,  a  workingman  in  the  modern  sense  of 
that  term,  should  enlist  the  sympathy  and  the  in- 
terest   of   all    workingmen,    all   labor   men.      They 

1  1  Cor.  1 :  27  f .    Three  times  he  has  here  the  very  word,  efetefaTo, 
used  by  James. 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  117 

should  heed  the  Call  of  the  Carpenter.  Here  James 
boldly  champions  the  cause  of  the  poor  as  against 
certain  rich  Jews,  probably  not  members  of  the 
church,  who  have  oppressed  {KaradwaaTtvovaiv)1  the 
Christians  and  dragged  {eXkovolv)  them  before  courts 
of  justice  (/cpirripia) .  With  their  own  hand  (avroi) 
these  rich  Jews  had  dragged  Christians  before  tri- 
bunals. Rich  Sadducees  had  done  this  with  Peter 
and  John  (Acts  4:1).  As  one  of  these  potentates 
(dvvaorevu)) ,  yea,  as  a  tyrant  (/caTaSwaoTevo)) ,  Paul 
had  once  dragged  (ovgo))  men  and  women  before  the 
Sanhedrin  (Acts  8:3;  22:4).  He  had  even  tried  to 
make  them  blaspheme  (Acts  26:  11).  It  was  not 
necessary  to  have  special  laws  against  the  Chris- 
tians. As  objects  of  dislike  it  was  easy  enough,  as 
Paul  found  out,  to  hale  them  into  court.  Paul 
came  to  know  only  too  well  how  the  tables  could 
be  turned  on  him  when  he  became  a  Christian.  He 
had  to  take  his  own  medicine  (Acts  13:5°;  16:  19). 
Jesus  had  indeed  foretold  that  just  this  fate  would 
befall  his  disciples  before  the  courts  of  Jews  and 
Gentiles  (Matt.  10: 17!;  John  16:  2).  The  anger  of 
these  rich  Jews  against  Jesus  and  Christians  leads 
them  actually  to  blaspheme  the  name  of  Christ. 
The  Sadducees  will  not  even  call  the  name  of  Jesus 
when  they  discuss  the  case  of  Peter  and  John.  They 
refer  with  contempt  to  "this  name"  (Acts  4:17), 
though  in  the  threat  they  have  to  name  Jesus 
(verse  18).  The  disciples  rejoiced  "that  they  were 
counted  worthy  to  suffer  dishonor  for  the  Name" 
(Acts  5:  41).     So  "the  honorable  name,"  "the  beau- 

1  In  Acts  10:38  we  have  KaraSwaoTEvofiivovg  vnb  tov  chaftohov. 


n8   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

tiful  name"  (to  icaXdv  ovo/ia),  "the  noble  Name"  (Mof- 
fatt)  came  to  be  the  shibboleth  of  the  believers  in 
Jesus.  His  name  was  to  be  "the  name  above  every 
name"  (Phil  2:  of.).  It  was  already  the  only  name 
with  power  to  save  (Acts  4:12),  as  Peter  boldly 
informed  the  Sanhedrim  That  was  the  meaning  of 
the  name  Jesus  (Matt.  1 :  21).  Here  one  sees  afresh 
the  Christology  of  James.  The  honorable  name  is 
the  name  of  Jesus,  with  a  possible  reference  to  the 
use  of  it  at  baptism  in  the  baptismal  formula,  "by 
which  ye  are  called,"  "which  is  called  upon  you" 
(to  kmKXTjdsv  £0'  vfidg) .  At  any  rate,  they  bear  the 
name  of  Christian,  given  probably  as  a  reproach 
(Acts  11:  26;  26:  28;  1  Pet.  4:  14,  16).  This  name  is 
now  their  badge  of  honor  and  glory.  When  called 
upon  to  say:  "Anathema  be  Jesus"  (avddepa  'Itjoovs) 
they  reply:  "Jesus  is  Lord"  (Kvpio$  Irjoovg).1  Cer- 
tainly the  early  Jewish  Christians  had  everything  to 
make  them  fear  the  powerful  rich  who  had  frowned 
upon  Jesus  and  his  cause. 

And  yet  James  dares  to  say  to  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians: "But  ye  have  dishonored  the  poor  man" 
(v/xelg  6s  TjrifidfTare  tov  tttuxov).  "Now  you  insult  the 
poor"  (Moffatt).  They  had  done  it  out  of  cringing 
fear  of  the  rich  Jews  with  all  their  power  or  out  of 
anxiety  to  please  the  rich  so  as  to  win  them  with 
fawning  flattery.  We  are  not  to  think  that  all  the 
Jewish  Christians  had  shown  such  narrowness  or 
such  cowardice,  but  some  instances  had  come  to  the 
notice  of  James.  Per  contra  note  the  case  of  Ananias 
and  Sapphira,  who  wished  to  gain  credit  for  great 

1 1  Cor.  12:3. 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  119 

liberality  to  the  poor  by  the  use  of  part  of  the 
wealth,  keeping  back  half  though  pretending  to 
give  all.  All  the  early  Christians  were  not  poor. 
The  cases  of  Barnabas,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  Laz- 
arus and  his  sisters  Martha  and  Mary,  occur  to  one 
at  once.  Jesus  did  not  denounce  rich  men  per  se, 
though  he  did  point  out  with  great  power  the  peril 
of  wealth.  So  James  is  not  to  be  understood  as 
denouncing  the  rich  in  a  wholesale  fashion.  Con- 
secration is  what  sanctifies  riches,  the  use  of  the 
money  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  blessing  of 
mankind.  A  man  is  not  a  child  of  the  devil  just 
because  he  is  rich  or  poor.  God  deals  with  men  in 
the  raw  manhood.  "A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that." 
The  distinction  between  the  upper  and  the  lower 
classes  is  partly  fictitious  and  is  not  a  stable  con- 
dition. The  slums  are  a  dreadful  fact  and  a  disgrace 
to  modern  civilization.  People  should  have  decent 
homes,  good  food,  fresh  air,  and  cleanliness  in 
clothing.  Extreme  poverty  is  a  peril  to  a  man's 
soul,  as  is  great  wealth.  It  is  not  a  sin  to  be  rich,  but 
dangerous,  though  most  of  us  are  willing  to  take  the 
risk.  Epictetus  (Stob.  10)  says:  "It  is  difficult  for  a 
rich  person  to  be  right-minded  or  a  right-minded 
person  rich."  Riches  and  poverty  are  not  essential' 
criteria  of  character.  Over  against  the  slums  in  our 
cities  one  may  place  the  pious  poor  of  Scotland,  as 
seen  in  "The  Cotter's  Saturday  Night."  Over 
against  the  wild  and  reckless  nouveaux  riches  one 
may  note  the  generous  givers  of  millions  to  missions 
and  to  education.  One  must  learn  to  be  just  to  all 
classes  and  to  do  justice  to  all.     One  needs  full 


IS 


120   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

knowledge  of  the  social  conditions  about  him  and  the 
courage  to  apply  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  these  con- 
ditions. But  let  no  one  imagine  that  sociology  can 
take  the  place  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus.  Christianity 
is  sociological,  but  sociology  is  not  necessarily  Chris- 
tian. We  need  intelligent  sympathy,  but  most  of 
all  the  love  and  grace  of  God  in  the  heart.  But 
minister  and  man  must  be  independent  of  bondage 
to  either  rich  or  poor  and  stand  in  the  freedom 
of  Christ.  Professor  H.  C.  Vedder  makes  a  very 
serious  charge  against  modern  ministers  in  his  book, 
The  Gospel  of  Jesus  and  the  Problems  of  Democracy, 
p.  46:  "This  attitude  of  the  clergy  can  be  explained 
only  on  the  ground  of  their  economic  dependence 
upon  the  privileged  classes.  They  are  the  hirelings 
of  capitalism,  and,  to  do  them  justice,  they  earn 
their  wages."  This  is  a  bitter  attack  upon  the 
ministry,  for  always  championing  the  cause  of 
capital  whenever  labor  has  a  clash  with  capital. 
The  charge  is  not  always  true,  as  anyone  who  ob- 
serves should  know.  Organized  labor  is  sometimes 
in  the  wrong.  Corporations  that  are  unjust  to 
labor  are  often  denounced  in  the  pulpit.  Let  every 
case  be  met  on  its  merits.  Certainly  the  minister  of 
Christ  should  be  on  the  side  of  manhood  against 
mere  money.    A  man's  life  is  more  than  money. 

James  reminds  his  readers  that  God  is  not  ashamed 
of  the  poor.  In  fact,  he  often  calls  the  poor,  as  the 
world  regards  them  (ra  Koofiu),  ethical  dative),  to  be 
rich  in  faith  (nXovaiovg  kv  niorei).  After  all,  this  is 
the  true  riches,  that  of  the  spirit,  that  of  fellowship 
with  God.     So  often  a  turn  in  the  wheel  of  life 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  121 

leaves  a  man  poor  to-day  who  was  rich  yesterday. 
And  death  will  separate  one  from  all  his  wealth 
save  what  he  has  given  away.  That  is  all  that  he  can 
really  keep.  The  wicked  rich  man  may  scout  the 
poor  saint  here,  but  Lazarus  will  rest  in  Abraham's 
bosom  while  the  wicked  rich  man  is  in  torment  in 
Hades.  But  even  here  the  pious  poor  stand  high 
with  God,  while  the  wicked  rich  are  despised.  The 
poor  may  be  heirs  of  the  kingdom  {KXr]gov6^ovq  -n?? 
paotXeiag).  Think  of  that — heirs  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  the  glorious  Messianic  Kingdom  promised  of 
old  and  now  begun,  the  fulness  of  which  is  in  the 
future  with  God,  the  heavenly  kingdom.  But  even 
here  and  now  the  poor  saint  is  a  child  of  the  King 
and  has  riches  untold.  He  has  love  and  joy  in  his 
heart,  a  superiority  to  adversity,  an  elevation  of 
spirit,  the  peace  of  God  that  passes  all  understand- 
ing, and  that  is  worth  more  than  all  the  gold  of 
Ophir.  It  is  not  mere  pious  platitude  on  the  part  of 
James  when  he  writes  thus.  He  is  but  interpreting 
the  soul  of  mystic  Christianity,  real  Christianity,  as 
set  forth  by  Jesus  in  the  "Beatitudes,"  where  those 
only  are  felicitated  dmitdpiot,)  who  have  the  joy  of 
the  spirit  independent  of  outward  condition  or  cir- 
cumstance. After  all  the  piety  of  the  poor  is  a : 
nation's  best  asset.  The  poor  will  some  day,  many 
of  them,  be  rich.  May  they  still  be  pious!  The 
upper  classes  run  down  and  run  out,  alas,  and  have 
to  be  constantly  recruited  from  the  lower  classes. 
It  is  the  law  of  life.  If  we  save  the  masses  we  may 
save  the  classes.  At  any  rate,  it  is  a  pitiful  business 
to  see  a  church  of  Jesus  Christ  ashamed  of  the  poor, 


w/ 


122   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

as  the  world  regards  them,  for  Jesus,  our  Lord,  was 
himself  poor  for  our  sakes,  voluntarily  poor:  "Though 
he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  he  became  poor,  that 
ye  through  his  poverty  might  become  rich"  (2  Cor. 
8:9),  rich  in  God's  mercy  and  grace,  rich  in  char- 
acter, in  likeness  to  Jesus. 

4.  The  Royal  Law.     2 :  8f . 

The  poise  of  James  appears  again.  He  has  no 
wish  to  stir  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  poor 
against  the  rich.  Surely  it  is  not  a  sin  to  love  rich 
people.  They  are  entitled  to  the  same  love  as  other 
people,  many  far  more  because  of  the  noble  use 
made  of  their  wealth.  If  you  really  {yAvroL,  original 
usage)  fulfil  {teXute,  cf.  2:27)  the  royal  law  (vdfiov 
fiaoiXiKov),  a  law  fit  for  kings  or  such  as  a  king  will 
be  sure  to  follow  (cf .  Psa.  72 ;  Zech.  9 :  9)  and  supreme 
over  other  laws  (Matt.  22:40),  you  do  well  (icaXug 
TroieiTe).  They  should  love  both  rich  and  poor 
alike.  This  "royal  law"  was  in  the  Old  Testament 
(Lev.  19:  18)  and  is  here  quoted.  It  was  sanctioned 
by  Jesus-  (Matt.  19:  i8f.)  as  one  of  the  two  chief 
commandments  on  which  hang  the  whole  law  and 
the  prophets  (Matt.  22:38-40).  Love  of  God  and 
man  covers  all  else.  One  may  compare  also  the 
Golden  Rule  as  given  by  Jesus  in  Matt.  7:12,  which 
is  just  another  way  of  stating  the  "royal  law"  of 
loving  one's  neighbor  (rdv  ttXtjoiov  gov,  one  near  in 
need  whether  in  space  or  not)  as  oneself,  a  very 
high  standard  for  most  people. 

The  royal  law  forbids  the  partiality  in  church  of 
which  James  has  been  speaking,  this  respect  of  per- 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  123 

sons  (nqootorroXTffnTTelTe) .  It  is  more  than  an  error  of 
judgment  or  a  breach  of  etiquette.  It  is  an  act  of 
sin  (dfxagriav) ,  a  slip  in  ethics,  a  missing  of  the  mark 
that  is  fraught  with  grave  consequences.  It  is  bad 
enough  to  be  convicted  (eheyxofievoi)  by  the  law  as 
transgressors  (napa-ftdTai,  stepping  aside)  by  this 
servile  regard  for  the  rich.  It  is  worse  to  note  the 
evil  effect  on  the  church  and  the  community.  A 
church  of  a  clique  is  doomed.  A  church  is  only  of 
use  when  it  is  open  to  the  people  who  need  the  help 
of  the  gospel.  The  church  opens  its  doors  to  let 
people  in;  does  not  put  up  bars  to  keep  them  out. 

5.  Stumbling  in  One  Point.     2 :  iof. 

At  first  blush  it  seems  that  James  has  Draconian 
severity  in  these  verses,  but  it  is  not  the  severe 
punishment  of  small  crimes  or  venial  offenses.  The 
long  list  of  capital  crimes  in  ancient  England  shows 
how  slowly  men  have  learned  to  temper  justice  with 
mercy.  Some  of  the  Stoics  said  that  the  theft  of  a 
penny  was  as  bad  as  parricide.  The  "Blue  Laws" 
of  Connecticut  come  to  mind  also.  James  does  not 
say  that  all  sins  are  equal,  that  one  sin  is  as  bad  as 
another.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  each  man  discounts 
his  own  sins.  The  rake  looks  with  scorn  on  the 
grafter.  The  man  guilty  of  spiritual  pride  scouts 
the  drunkard.  It  is  a  hard  task  to  convince  a  man 
that  he  is  guilty  of  his  own  sin.  The  burden  of  the 
law  was  very  heavy.  The  curse  of  the  law  (Gal. 
3:13)  was  more  than  violation  of  particular  pre- 
cepts, though  that  was  true  to  the  last  detail  (Deut. 
11:  26,  28,  32;  27:  26),  as  Jesus  explained  (Matt.  5: 


124   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

i8f.).  The  Jewish  fathers  put  a  hedge  or  fence 
about  the  law  (Pirke  Aboth  i.  i)  and  made  it  very- 
difficult  to  keep  all  the  law  (oXov  rdv  vojxov,  the  law 
as  a  whole,  hard  enough  as  it  was)  plus  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  elders,  which  often  contradicted  and  set 
at  naught  the  commandment  of  God  (Mark  7:  8f.). 
Cf.  Sirach  27:  12.  Rabbi  Hunnah,  in  a  Midrash  on 
Num.  5:14,  taught  that  he  who  committed  adultery 
broke  all  commandments,  and  some  of  the  rabbis 
placed  the  Sabbath  above  all  else  and  held  that,  if 
one  profaned  it,  he  had  broken  all  the  command- 
ments. Mayor,  per  contra,  quotes  some  of  the 
rabbis  as  saying  that  to  keep  the  law  about  fringes 
and  phylacteries  was  to  keep  the  whole  law.  There 
was  a  constant  tendency  to  make  the  ceremonial 
cover  up  moral  and  spiritual  lapses.  Augustine 
(Epistle  to  Jerome,  167)  compares  this  teaching  of 
James  with  the  Stoic  doctrine  of  the  solidarity  of 
virtues  and  vices  alluded  to  above.  But  certainly 
James  has  a  higher  view  than  these  hairsplitting 
punctilios.  Paul  saw  that  the  essence  of  sin  lay. 
in  the  motive  (Rom.  14:23),  and  that  desire  to 
glorify  God  should  pervade  all  our  acts  (1  Cor.  10: 
31).  It  seems  hard  to  hold  one  to  strict  account 
who  makes  one  slip  {Txraio-q  kv  kvi)  and  hold  him 
guilty  of  all  {ttclvtwv  lvo%og,  held  liable  [see  use  of 
ivoxoc,  in  P.  Oxy.  275.  A.  D.  66]  for  all).  That  is 
true  only  in  the  sense  that  James  proceeds  to  explain 
that  any  violation  of  law  makes  one  a  law  breaker 
{■naQafiaT7]<;  vdfiov).1    One  does  not  have  to  break  all 

1  Codex  D  adds  to  Luke  6:4:  tq  avrij  rjidpa  ftraaa/itvdc  riva  rpyat.6- 
fiivov  T(5  aaPP&T(f>  elnev  airy,  'Avdpune  el  /iiv  ol6ac  ri  nouic  fianapioc  el, 


CLASS  PREJUDICE  125 

the  laws  to  become  a  lawbreaker.  One  offence 
places  one  in  that  category.  The  matter  is  put 
with  this  sharp  emphasis  because  of  the  com- 
placent self-satisfaction  of  the  perfunctory  cere- 
monialist  (James  1:26)  who  may  yet  commit 
the  sin  of  partiality  in  church.  James  is  seeking 
to  convict  such  "pious"  sinners  of  their  guilt,  to 
rouse  them  out  of  their  smug  self-satisfaction.  It 
is  quite  possible  that  those  who  were  guilty  of 
spiritual  pride  and  other  sins  of  the  spirit,  boasted 
of  their  freedom  from  adultery  and  murder  (Hort). 
At  any  rate,  we  must  not  forget  that  out  of  the 
heart  are  the  issues  of  life,  that  murder  springs  out 
of  hate,  and  that  all  of  God's  laws  come  from  the 
same  Will  (Mayor).  It  is  disobedience  to  the  Will 
of  God  that  constitutes  the  essence  of  sin.  It  is  not 
a  light  matter  to  be  guilty  of  any  sin.  Our  only  hope 
is  in  the  grace  and  forgiveness  of  God.  There  is  no 
room  for  pride  on  the  part  of  sinners,  setting  up 
one  sin  against  another  sin. 

6.  A  Law  of  Liberty.    2  :  i2f. 

But  James  is  not  a  Pharisaic  legalist  nor  a  Judaizer. 
He  adds  these  verses  to  make  it  plain  that  he  does 
not  have  in  mind  the  painful  observance  of  separate 
rules  and  details.  The  spirit  is  greater  than  the 
letter.  Our  words  {XaXtire)  and  deeds  {-noielre)  are 
to  be  judged  by  "a  law  of  liberty"  (<5ta  vdfiov  kkevde- 
gia<;.      Cf.   1:25),  not  of  bondage.     We  are  under 

el  6e  fir)  oldaq  intKaTaparoQ  nal  TrapafiaTW  el  tov  vdfiov.  But  this  logion 
does  not  compare  Sabbath  breaking  with  other  sins,  though  it  does 
emphasize  insight  into  the  motive  of  the  act. 


126  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

grace,  not  the  old  law.  We  live  in  an  atmosphere 
of  love  and  of  liberty,  not  of  repression  and  of 
slavery.  God  watches  the  real  motive  in  our  con- 
duct toward  the  rich  and  the  poor  as  in  all  things. 
"Mercy  glorieth  against  judgment"  (KaraKavxarai 
tAeof  Kpioewg),  mercy  triumphs  over  judgment.  God 
shows  mercy  to  us  in  spite  of  our  shortcomings,  for 
Jesus  is  the  pledge  of  our  fidelity  and  our  hope.  We 
make  so  many  mistakes  that  we  should  have  no 
heart  to  go  on  if  we  had  to  be  held  to  strict  account 
every  time  we  stumble  in  one  point.  Still,  we  must 
not  overlook  the  fact  that  we  did  stumble.  It  is 
our  duty  not  to  stumble  at  that  point  again.  So  we 
go  on  our  stumbling  way  toward  that  goal  of  per- 
fection which  is  ever  before  us.  It  was  Jesus  who 
said:  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged"  (Matt. 
7:1).  James  seems  to  know  this  saying,  as  he  lays 
emphasis  on  the  spirit  and  motive  in  holy  living. 
"I  will  sing  of  mercy  and  judgment"  (Psa.  101:  1). 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Appeal  to  Life.     2 :  14-26 

We  now  come  to  the  famous  passage  that  is  sup- 
posed by  some  scholars  to  be  an  attack  on  Paul's 
doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith  instead  of  works. 
James  is  interpreted  by  many  to  be  a  champion  of 
works  as  against  Paul's  theory  of  grace.  It  is  an  old 
controversy  and  is  the  occasion  of  Martin  Luther's 
slighting  allusion  to  the  Epistle  of  James  as  "a 
veritable  epistle  of  straw."  He  thought  it  contra- 
dicted the  Epistle  of  Galatians,  which  he  dearly 
loved  as  his  "wife"  (Weib).  It  is  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  clear  the  atmosphere  a  bit  before  proceeding 
to  the  exposition. 

1.  The  Standpoint  of  James. 

This  depends  on  the  date  of  the  Epistle,  for  the 
discussion  of  which  question  see  Chapter  I.  7.  It 
is  here  assumed  that  James  wrote  before  the  Jeru- 
salem Conference,  before  50  A.  D. 

(1)  Without  the  Judaizing  Controversy  in  Mind. 
Paul  wrote  Galatians  and  Romans,  as  well  as  1  and 
2  Corinthians,  in  the  heat  of  that  controversy  to 
answer  the  contention  of  the  Judaizers  that  circum- 
cision was  essential  to  the  salvation  of  the  Gentiles, 
that  Christianity  alone  was  not  sufficient,  but  must 
be  supplemented  by  Judaism.  No  issue  ever  stirred 
Paul's  nature  like  this.    It  is  possible  that  Paul  may 

127 


128   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

have  had  in  mind  a  misuse  of  James  2:  14-26  by 
the  Judaizers  when  he  wrote,  knowing  that  James 
in  reality  agreed  with  him  in  the  matter  (Acts  15: 
14-21;  Gal.  2:  1-10).  But  James  clearly  is  not  at- 
tacking Paul  nor  Paul's  theory  of  grace.  He  rather 
has  in  view  a  perversion  of  the  Christian  em- 
phasis on  the  spiritual  side  as  opposed  to  the  cere- 
monial ritualism  of  the  Pharisees.  The  pendulum 
swings  from  one  extreme  to  the  other.  The  Jews 
had  laid  too  much  emphasis  on  religious  duties 
(cf.  James  1:  26),  and  some  of  the  Christians  went 
to  the  extreme  of  thinking  that  no  works  at  all 
were  needed  in  the  Christian  life.  Some  of  the 
Jews,  on  the  other  hand,  had  already  gone  so  far  as 
to  consider  creed  alone  essential.  "As  soon  as  a 
man  has  mastered  the  thirteen  heads  of  the  faith, 
firmly  believing  therein  .  .  .  though  he  may  have 
sinned  in  every  possible  way  .  .  .  still  he  inherits 
eternal  life."1  This  Jewish  unconcern  of  real  piety 
in  life  is  reflected  in  the  lives  of  some  of  the  Jewish 
Christians  and  is  the  occasion  of  the  remarks  of 
James. 

(2)  James's  Use  of  Righteousness  or  Justification 
(idiKai(l)67j,  2:  21).  It  is  the  sense  of  actual  goodness 
as  Jesus  uses  it  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (Matt. 
6:1)  and  like  sanctification  as  Paul  has  it  in  Rom. 
6  to  8.  It  is  not  the  "imputed  righteousness"  of 
Paul  in  Rom.  3  and  4  (Gal.  3).  James  has  a 
practical  purpose,  not  a  theological  one.  He  is 
not  discussing  the  question  as  to  how  Abraham 
was    set    right    with    God,    how    faith    was    "reck- 

1  Maim,  on  Mishnah,  Sanhedrin  xi.  I. 


THE  APPEAL  TO  LIFE  129 

oned"    (eXoyiadrj)    as    righteousness    (dg    ScKatoavvrjv) , 

the  point  seized  on  by  Paul  in  the  verse.  James 
quotes  the  whole  verse  (Gen.  15:6),  as  Paul  does, 
but  he  is  concerned  with  it  as  proof  that,  when  put 
to  the  test,  Abraham  lived  up  to  his  faith  in  that  he 
actually  "offered  up  Isaac,  his  son,  upon  the  altar" 
(James  2:21).  It  is  the  deed  as  proof  of  faith  that 
James  emphasizes,  though  both  points  are  in  the 
narrative. 

(3)  James's  Use  of  Works  (epya).  He  looks  upon 
works  as  proof  of  faith,  not  as  means  of  salvation. 
John  the  Baptist  had  demanded  "fruits  worthy  of 
repentance"  (Luke  3:  8).  Jesus  had  said:  "By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them"  (Matt.  7:  20).  Paul  will 
discuss  death  to  sin  on  the  part  of  the  believer  (Rom. 
6:  1-11).  Peter  will  show  how  the  life  will  make 
the  calling  and  election  sure  (2  Pet.  1:10).  The 
whole  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  a  clarion  call  to 
hold  fast  the  confession  of  faith  to  the  end.  John 
will  insist  that  those  who  say  they  are  in  the  light  do 
not  walk  in  darkness  (1  John  1:6;  2:9).  Certainly 
then  James  is  in  harmony  with  the  full  drift  of  the 
gospel  message  in  his  insistence  on  works  as  proof 
of  the  new  life.  Paul,  in  his  contrast  between  faith 
and  works,  has  in  mind  the  Jewish  doctrine  of  works 
as  means  of  salvation.  See  2  Esdras  9:  jf. :  "Who- 
ever shall  be  able  to  escape  either  by  his  works  or 
by  his  faith  shall  see  my  salvation."  And  even  here 
"by  faith"  does  not  mean  what  Paul  has  in  mind, 
but  rather  creed,  not  saving  trust.  The  Pharisees 
taught  the  value  of  works  of  supererogation,  the 
"merit"  of  the  fathers,  in  particular,  the  merit  of 


i3o  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

Abraham  whose  faith  and  works  were  a  storehouse 
for  the  Jews.  "We  have  Abraham  to  our  father." 
That  was  enough.  So  the  Roman  Catholics  hold 
that  the  saints  may  help  us  out  of  purgatory  if  we 
pay  enough  for  their  intercession.  Prayer  itself  be- 
comes an  opus  operatum,  a  credit  in  the  balance 
sheet  with  God.  Most  Jews  held  works  alone  to  be 
the  means  of  salvation.  The  point  was  keenly  dis- 
cussed in  the  Jewish  schools  in  Jerusalem  and 
Alexandria. 

(4)  James's  Use  of  Faith.  In  this  passage  he  is 
thinking  of  mere  intellectual  assent  to  the  unity  of 
God  or  other  theological  tenets.  This  was  the  use 
of  "faith"  by  many  of  the  Jews.  After  some  of 
them  became  Christians  they  still  got  no  further. 
It  is  this  idle  and  empty  faith  that  James  is  con- 
demning. James  does  have  the  other  sense  of 
trust  for  the  word  (ttIotis),  as  in  2:1,  "faith  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  the  sense  in  which  Paul  uses 
the  term  when  he  contrasts  it  with  works  (Rom. 
3:20-30).  It  is  quite  important  to  note  this  dis- 
tinction. 

(5)  The  Antithesis  in  James.  It  is  not  in  reality 
between  faith  and  works,  but  between  live  faith  and 
dead  faith,  the  two  uses  of  the  term  just  mentioned. 
In  verse  18  the  point  is  made  absolutely  clear.  It  is 
not  personal  trust  in  Christ  that  James  ridicules,  but 
an  empty  theological  tenet  that  does  not  stand  the 
test  of  actual  life.  So  then  James  and  Paul  go  off 
at  tangents  when  the  same  words  occur,  for  they 
are  talking  about  different  things. 


THE  APPEAL  TO  LIFE  131 

2.  Not  Pious  Pretence.    2  :  14-17. 

Once  more  James  corrects  a  possible  misappre- 
hension. He  properly  places  mercy  above  justice, 
but  no  one  need  think  for  a  moment  that  good  deeds 
do  not  matter.  God  is  full  of  mercy,  but  there  is  a 
limit  even  with  God.  He  demands  some  perform- 
ance, not  mere  profession.  "What  doth  it  profit?" 
(T*  d<pehog{)  James  pointedly  asks.  Cui  bono?  What 
is  the  use?  What  good  is  it?  What  boots  it  for  a 
man  to  say  (teyq)  he  has  faith  (ntOTiv),  but  for  him 
to  have  no  works  (epya)  to  prove  his  faithf  How 
can  men  know  that  he  has  any  faith?  The  mere 
assertion  is  all  that  men  have  at  first.  In  the  be- 
ginning the  claim  to  faith  is  accepted,  but  the  life 
must  confirm  the  claim  if  men  are  to  continue  to  be- 
lieve the  claim.  God  can  read  the  heart,  but  even 
God  demands  that  the  life  show  the  change  of  heart. 
James  asks  again:  "Can  that  faith  (?]  niarig)1  save 
(otioai)  him?"  He  does  not  scoff  at  faith,  but  at 
such  hollow  "faith"  as  this.  James  here  speaks  for 
the  practical  man  of  the  present  day  who  wishes  to 
see  some  real  difference  in  the  life  of  a  man  who 
becomes  a  Christian.  It  is  an  old  demand,  as  we 
see  in  1  John  1  and  2.  There  is  no  escape  from  this 
appeal  to  life,  nor  ought  there  to  be.  Men  are 
judged  by  their  conduct  in  business  during  the  week 
as  much  as  by  their  attendance  at  church  on  Sun- 
day. James  does  not  say  that  a  Christian  has  no 
faults,  and  never  sins,  or  is  a  hypocrite  if  he  sins 

1  The  article  here  has  almost  the  original  demonstrative  force. 
James  means  the  kind  of  faith  that  rests  on  mere  assertion  without 
works  to  prove  it. 


132   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

once.  He  does  say  that  he  should  have  some  fruit. 
His  illustration  in  verses  15  and  16  is  very  forcible 
and  shows  that  he  was  probably  a  striking  and 
popular  preacher  (Oesterley).  It  is  a  problem  that 
is  constantly  presented  to  our  modern  Christians  and 
churches.  A  brother  or  sister  is  in  need  of  food  and 
clothing.  They  are  out  of  work  because  of  the 
economic  conditions  beyond  their  control.  They 
are  unable  to  obtain  work.  They  are  not  pro- 
fessional beggars.  One  may  pause  to  admit  the 
serious  difficulty  of  knowing  how  to  render  real 
assistance  to  those  who  come  to  our  doors  for  help. 
The  modern  social  workers  tell  us  not  to  give  money 
and  clothing,  but  to  investigate  the  case  or  to  have 
the  charity  organization  or  some  of  the  rescue 
workers  do  it  for  us.  The  great  number  of  tramps 
and  professional  beggars  with  false  stories  tends  to 
harden  our  hearts  to  the  many  cases  of  real  need 
all  about  us.  Some  of  these  are  too  proud  to  make 
their  real  condition  known  and  actually  starve  to 
death  or  perish  from  disease  and  cold.  James  here 
assumes  that  the  case  is  one  of  real  need  that  de- 
serves sympathy  and  help.  The  man  who  prides 
himself  upon  the  correctness  of  his  professional  creed 
and  pious  standing  bestows  kind  words  of  sympathy 
and  nothing  else,  sending  the  suffering  brother  or 
sister,  "ill-clad  and  short  of  daily  food"  (Moffatt), 
out  into  the  bitter  cold  and  shuts  the  door  with  a 
sense  of  satisfaction  after  such  pious  platitudes  as: 
"Go  in  peace,  be  ye  warmed  and  filled"   (vndyere 

kv  elpr/v-q,  depnaiveode  tcai  xoprd^eade) .  He  calls  his  cheap 
words  Christian  sympathy.     It  is  to  make  demons 


THE  APPEAL  TO  LIFE  133 

laugh.  The  irony  of  James  is  very  keen.  "The 
things  needful  to  the  body"  (to,  kniTr/deia  rov  oufia- 
tos),  the  ordinary  necessities  of  life,  now  become  rare 
luxuries  to  the  poor  brother  or  sister.  So  James 
repeats  his  query:  "What  doth  it  profit?"  It  is 
pertinent  per  contra  to  quote  Paul  on  the  necessity 
of  love  even  in  beneficence:  "And  if  I  bestow  all  my 
goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  if  I  give  my  body  to  be 
burned,  but  have  not  love,  it  profiteth  me  nothing" 
(ovdev  dxpeXovfiai,  1  Cor.  13:3).  What,  indeed!  One 
recalls  the  compassion  of  Jesus  for  the  hungry  mul- 
titudes whom  he  fed.  His  heart  was  not  hardened. 
He  did  not  ask  them  to  be  satisfied  with  honeyed 
words  and  the  aroma  of  dinner.  The  funny  part  of 
it  all  is  that  such  pious  pretenders  actually  think 
that  the  needy  should  be  grateful  for  the  kind  advice 
when  sent  away  without  a  mouthful  to  eat.  James 
applies  his  illustration  to  the  point  under  discussion 
(verse  17).  Mere  professional  faith  that  talks  and 
does  not  "is  dead  in  itself"  (vetcpd  eanv  icad'  kavr'qv). 
There  is  no  life  in  it  and  no  reality.  It  is  dead  on  the 
inside  and  is  a  mere  empty  shell  of  pious  pretence. 
There  are  people  who  to-day  turn  to  our  churches 
for  help  in  the  hour  of  need  and  get  only  empty 
words.  It  will  be  in  vain  then  to  speak  about  the 
grace  of  God. 

3.  Not  Mere  Intellectual  Assent.    2  :  18,  19. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  in  verse  18  to  follow  the 
thought  of  James.  He  is  usually  wonderfully  per- 
spicuous, but  here  we  are  in  doubt  as  to  the  punc- 
tuation and  the  reference  in  "a  man"  (rig).    Some 


134  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

scholars  think  that  it  is  a  delicate  way  that  James 
has  of  referring  to  himself,  but  then  James  is  em- 
phasizing works,  not  mere  faith.  Is  the  sentence  a 
question  or  an  assertion?  Shall  we  say  "But"  or 
"Yea"  (for  <UAd)?  Hort  has  shown  a  way  out  that 
is  partly  followed  by  Moffatt.  Take  the  "man"  as 
an  objector,  but  let  his  objection  cover  only  the 
first  sentence,  the  point  being  to  challenge  the  faith 
of  James,  since  he  has  put  such  accent  on  works. 
"Thou,  James,  hast  thou  faith?  I  also  (as  well  as 
thou)  have  works"  {ov  Trior lv  !%«?;  /cayw  epya  e%w). 
The  objector  thus  claims  to  have  both  faith  and 
works,  but  implies  that  James  has  only  works  and 
no  faith.  The  rest  of  the  verse  is  then  the  reply  of 
James  to  the  objector.1  James  bursts  in  with  the 
answer  to  the  challenge  and  rests  his  claim  to  faith 
on  works  as  proof.  "Show  me  thy  faith  apart  from 
thy  works"  (Seli-ov  fiot  ttjv  tt'mjtiv  gov  x^Pk  ™v  epywv), 
"and  I  by  my  works  will  show  thee  my  faith"  («dyo> 
ooi  deii-G)  ek  Tcbv  epywv  fiov  rr)v  nianv).2  Here  James 
pits  over  against  each  other  the  two  sorts  of  faith — 
the  true  faith  which  James  claims  to  possess  and 
which  is  proved  by  works,  and  the  false  faith  which 
is  mere  profession  and  entirely  apart  from  (%<•>?<'?) 
works.  The  antithesis  is  complete.  The  dispute 
turns  on  how  one  knows  that  he  has  "faith."  James 
rests  his  case  on  his  "works"  and  in  turn  challenges 
the  objector  to  prove  his  "faith"  apart  from  works. 


1  One  may  compare  Paul's  habit  of  answering  an  imaginary  objec- 
tor in  the  development  of  his  argument.    Cf .  Rom.  2 : 1 ;  o. :  20. 

2  Note  the  sharp  contrast  in  iriortc  by  the  position  at  the  be- 
ginning and  the  end  of  the  sentence. 


THE  APPEAL  TO  LIFE  135 

Now  James  is  ready  to  drive  the  point  home.  He 
proceeds  to  show  that  such  an  empty  faith  as  his 
objector  has  is  mere  intellectual  assent  to  proposi- 
tions and  is  not  saving  trust  that  bears  fruit  in  the 
life.  "Thou  believest  that  God  is  one"  (ov  morsvetg 
ore  el$  Oedg  eanv).  This  is  one  of  the  statements  of 
the  unity  of  God.  The  usual  formula  occurs  in 
Deut.  6:4  and  in  Mark  12:29  ("The  Lord  our 
God,  the  Lord  is  one").  The  recitation  of  this 
phrase  was  not  merely  the  orthodox  creed,  but  was 
supposed  to  have  saving  efficacy  (cf.  the  Moslem 
repetition  of  "Allah").  From  the  time  of  the  exile 
the  repetition  of  the  Shema  (Deut.  6 :  4ff .)  every 
morning  and  evening  was  the  duty  of  every  pious 
Israelite.  "Whoever  reads  the  Shema  upon  his 
couch  is  as  one  that  defends  himself  with  a  two- 
edged  sword"  (Meg.  3a).  "They  cool  the  flames  of 
Gehinnom  for  him  who  reads  the  Shema"  (Ber. 
15b.).  Oesterley  (in  loco)  adds  that  "the  very 
parchment  on  which  the  Shema  is  written  is  effica- 
cious in  keeping  demons  at  a  distance."  These 
statements  will  help  us  to  understand  the  atmos- 
phere from  which  James  draws  his  illustration.  And 
yet  James  does  not  ridicule  this  mental  assent  to 
the  oneness  of  God.  "Thou  doest  well"  (mXa? 
noielg).  Orthodoxy  is  better  than  heresy.  Ortho- 
doxy is  thinking  straight  (6pdo6o^ia)  and  that  is 
what  we  all  need  to  do.  Every  man  is  right  in  his 
own  eyes  and  the  rest  are  a  bit  "off."  But,  good  as 
monotheism  is,  it  is  not  enough  (cf.  Mohamme- 
danism again).  What  James  criticizes  is  mere  in- 
tellectual  assent   with   no   vital   union   with   God. 


136   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

"The  demons  also  believe"  {mi  to,  dai/iovta  morevov- 
olv),  also  as  well  as  you.  The  demons  know  only 
too  well  that  God  is  and  that  he  is  one.  They  are 
monotheists,  not  polytheists.  They  recognized 
Jesus:  "What  have  we  to  do  with  thee,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth?  Art  thou  come  to  destroy  us?  We 
know  thee  who  thou  art,  the  Holy  One  of  God" 
(Mark  1:24).  Cf.  Matt.  8:29;  Luke  4:41.  The 
demons  are  thoroughly  orthodox  on  this  point,  have 
intellectual  assent  ("faith"),  but  they  are  still 
demons.  They  even  shudder  {(pgiaaovaLv)  at  the 
fact  and  the  power  of  God  as  they  feared  Jesus 
(Mark  1:24;  Luke  8:29).  The  word  means  to 
"bristle,"  like  the  Latin  horreo,  with  the  hair  stand- 
ing on  end.  "Then  a  spirit  passed  before  my  face; 
the  hair  of  my  flesh  stood  up"  (Job  4:  15).  So 
Daniel  (7:  15)  says:  "My  spirit  was  grieved"  (typ  fr 
to  iTvevfid  fiov).  The  argument  is  as  complete  as  it 
can  be. 

4.  The  Obedient  Trust  of  Abraham.     2:  20-24. 

But  James  applies  his  illustration  again.  He 
hammers  the  objector  while  he  has  him.  "But  wilt 
thou  know,  O  vain  man?"  (deXetc,  tie  yv&vai,  w  dv8pu>- 
ne  ksvs),  "you  senseless  fellow"  (Moffatt).  The 
word  (itevog)  is  used  like  the  Latin  vanus  (the  Vul- 
gate has  inanis,  Corbey  MS.  vacue)  of  boasters  or 
impostors,  men  whose  word  cannot  be  depended 
upon.     You  can  know,  if  you  wish  to  know1  "that 


1  yvuvai,  aorist  tense  and  so  punctiliar,  know  once  for  all,  with 
almost  a  touch  of  impatience  in  the  tense. 


THE  APPEAL  TO  LIFE  137 

faith  apart  from  works  is  barren"  (<5t*  77  -rriari^  x^Q^ 
ribv  spycjv  apyrj  kanv),  "faith  without  deeds  is  dead" 
(Moffatt),  according  to  some  manuscripts  (venqd, 
mortua,  not  apy6<;,  otiosa).  One  may  note  2  Pet.  1:8, 
"not  idle  nor  unfruitful"  (ovk  dgyovg  ovde  dtcdpnovg) . 
Faith  without^works  is  like  a  barren  woman,  without 
children  to  comfort  her.  "Children"  and  "works" 
are  sometimes  used  as  parallel.  "Wisdom  is  justified 
by  her  works"  (Matt.  11:  20);  "Wisdom  is  justified 
of  all  her  children"  (Luke  7:  35). 

James  thus  shows  irritation  at  the  dulness  of  his 
objector,  but  he  hopes  to  make  even  such  a  man 
see  the  point  by  appealing  to  the  axiomatic  case  of 
Abraham.  The  faith  of  Abraham  was  one  of  the 
commonplaces  of  theological  discussion  in  the  rab- 
binical schools  (Oesterley).  See  Sirach  44:  2  off. ; 
Wisd.  10:  5.  It  is  no  wonder  that  Paul  (Rom.  4; 
Gal.  3:7)  makes  use  of  the  case  of  Abraham.  He 
considers  it  so  important  that  in  Romans  he  devotes 
a  whole  chapter  to  the  subject.  Paul  lays  chief 
emphasis  (Rom.  4:  17-21)  on  Abraham's  faith  in 
the  promise  of  a  son.  Paul  also  proves  that  Abra- 
ham had  the  justifying  faith  before  he  was  circum- 
cised. James  shows  that  Abraham  lived  up  to  his 
faith  when  put  to  the  test.  Both  points  are  true. 
There  was  abuse  of  the  faith  of  Abraham.  Thus 
Rabbi  Nehemiah  (Mechilta  on  Exod.  14:31)  says: 
"So  Abraham,  solely  for  the  merit  of  his  faith, 
whereby  he  believed  in  the  Lord,  inherited  this 
world  and  the  other."  The  Jews  came  to  rely  so 
much  on  the  "merit"  of  Abraham's  faith  that  they 
felt  that  all  they  had  to  do  was  to  say:  "We  have 


138   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

Abraham  to  our  father"  (Matt.  3:9).  They  leaned1 
on  "Father  Abraham."  In  1  Mace.  2:  52  the  same 
use  is  made  of  the  case  of  Abraham  that  we  have  in 
James:  "Was  not  Abraham  found  faithful  (evpedr) 
morog)  in  trial,  and  it  was  reckoned  to  him  for 
righteousness?"  In  Heb.  11  the  same  exposition  of 
faith  is  set  forth  by  the  glorious  list  of  heroes  who 
exemplified  faith.  Among  these  is  Abraham,  who 
"obeyed  to  go  out"  (11:8)  to  a  distant  land  and 
who  offered  up  his  only-begotten  son  (11:17). 
James  appeals  confidently  therefore  to  the  example 
of  Abraham  in  offering  up  (dveveyKag)  Isaac  upon 
the  altar  (cf.  Gen.  22:9).  He  had  shown  that  he 
served  God  from  love  and  not  merely  from  fear. 
His  faith  had  stood  the  severest  of  all  tests,  be- 
lieving that  God  would  go  with  him  down  into  the 
darkness  of  death  and  make  plain  his  command 
that  was  so  hard  to  obey. 

James  interprets  the  case  of  Abraham  with  his 
usual  pungency.  "Thou  seest"  (flteneu;)  or,  at  least, 
thou  oughtest  to  see.  The  deduction  is  inevitable. 
"Faith  wrought  with  his  works"  {r\  -niong  avvqgyei 
rolg  epyoig  avrov),2  "faith  cooperated  with  deeds" 
(Moffatt),  just  the  opposite  of  "apart  from  works." 
It  is  thus  clear  that  James  did  not  mean  to  say  that 
Abraham  had  only  works  and  not  faith.  It  is  faith 
and  works  with  Abraham,  as  he  had  contended  in 
verse  18.  It  is  like  Paul's  "faith  working  through 
love,"    energetic   faith    (nioTig  61   dydiTTjg   evepyovjiivr)) . 

'See  Lightfoot's  Appendix  on  "The  Faith  of  Abraham,"  in  his 
Comm.  on  Galatians. 

2  Note  the  tense  of  ovvypytt,  imperfect,  kept  on  cooperating. 


THE  APPEAL  TO  LIFE  139 

So  James  adds:  "by  works  was  faith  made  perfect" 

(e/c  twv  «pyo)v  77  Ttlariq  kTtXei&drj) ,  "completed  by 
deeds"  (Moffatt).  Thus  with  Abraham  faith  was 
shown  to  be  alive,  not  dead;  fruitful,  not  barren; 
brought  to  a  good  result  or  end  (teXos),  not  cut 
short  with  mere  profession  or  promise.  So  the 
Scripture  was  fulfilled  (enXijoudT),  made  full  or  com- 
plete) in  the  case  of  Abraham:  "And  Abraham  be- 
lieved (e-rrioTsvoev)  God  and  it  (the  faith,  -neons)  was 
reckoned  (iXoyiodr],  set  down  to  his  credit)  to  him 
for  righteousness"  (e*?  SiKaioovvijv) .  Paul,  in  Rom. 
4,  lays  emphasis  on  the  verb  "believed,"  and  James 
stresses  the  obedience  which  proves  the  reality  of 
the  trust.  Both  points  are  justly  made.  In  each 
instance  faith  precedes  the  works.  We  are  set 
right  with  God  by  trust,  but  the  life  must  correspond 
to  the  new  relation  with  God.  It  was  so  with  Abra- 
ham. He  was  called  "the  friend  of  God"  (<piXo$ 
deov  ekXtjOtj).  Cf.  2  Chron.  20:  7.  "Shall  I  hide 
from  Abraham  that  thing  which  I  do?"  (Gen. 
18:17).  With  the  Arabs  the  term  Khalil  Allah 
(Friend  of  God)  is  the  current  name  for  Abraham. 
Epictetus  (Bk.  II,  chap,  xvii,  §  29)  speaks  of  looking 
"up  into  heaven  as  the  friend  of  God  "(<piXov  rov  deov). 
Plato  calls  the  righteous  man  "on  terms  of  friend- 
ship with  God"  (6eo(piX'qg) .  Jesus  calls  his  disciples 
"friends"  (<f>iXovg),  no  longer  "servants"  {dovXovq),  in 
John  I5:i4f.  There  cannot  be  such  friendship 
without  trust  (rriarig)  of  the  most  absolute  kind,  a 
trust  that  means  loyalty  to  the  end. 

One  must  not  think  that  James  discredits  faith. 
He  does  not.    He  assumes  the  need  of  it.     In  verse 


2>t^ 


140   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

24  James  uses  "justified"  (dinaiovTai)  more  in  the 
sense  of  final  approval  (set  right  at  last)  than  of  the 
initial  restoration  of  peace  with  God.  And  even  so 
"the  faith  as  a  ground  of  justification  is  assumed  as 
a  starting  point"  (Hort).  "Ye  see"  (opdre),  says 
James,  leaving  his  imaginary  opponent  and  turning 
again  to  his  readers.  They  can  see  the  point  whether 
the  empty-headed  disputant  does  or  not.  It  is  hard 
for  a  controversialist  to  see  anything  but  his  own 
side  of  the  question.  It  is  "not  only  by  faith"  (ovk 
tic  niareiog  fiovov)  that  a  man  is  justified.  The  case 
of  Abraham  shows  that  works  must  follow  faith  in 
the  natural  order  of  grace.  James  has  administered 
a  severe  rebuke  to  the  antinomians  who  deny  any 
responsibility  for  holy  living  and  disclaim  the  force 
of  the  moral  law.  There  has  always  been  a  curious 
type  of  pietism  that  ran  easily  into  immorality 
with  no  compunctions  of  conscience,  a  sort  of  emo- 
tionalism without  ethical  tone  or  flavor.  Abraham 
was  not  simply  the  father  of  the  Jewish  people,  but 
the  father  of  all  the  spiritual  Israel,  the  believing 
children  of  God  in  all  the  ages  since,  who  form  the 
elect  of  God  and  of  the  earth. 

5.   The  Case  of  Rahab.    2:25. 

One  wonders  why  James  selects  a  case  like  this 
after  speaking  of  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful 
and  God's  friend.  Oesterley  doubts  how  this  verse 
could  come  from  the  pen  of  a  Christian.  But  James 
may  have  wished  to  select  another  example  at  the 
furthest  possible  remove  from  Abraham,  a  heathen 
and  a  proselyte,  "the  first  of  all  the  proselytes"  in 


THE  APPEAL  TO  LIFE  141 

the  land  of  Canaan  (Hort).  Certainly,  if  a  woman 
like  Rahab  could  be  saved,  no  one  else  need  despair. 
She  expressed  her  faith  in  God:  "I  know  that  the 
Lord  God  hath  given  you  the  land  .  .  .  the  Lord 
your  God,  He  is  God  in  heaven  above  and  in  earth 
beneath"  (Josh.  2:9,  11).  Besides,  she  showed  her 
courage  by  avowing  the  cause  of  Jehovah  and  of 
Israel,  by  protecting  the  messengers  (dyyeXovg,  spies 
in  reality),  and  by  a  life  of  uprightness  thereafter. 
It  was  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  Israel  as  they  came 
to  Jericho  and  Rahab  took  her  stand  for  God  at 
the  start.  Hence  the  high  honor  accorded  her. 
She  is  mentioned  in  Heb.  11:31  in  the  famous  list 
of  heroes  of  faith.  In  Matt.  1 :  5  she  appears  in  the 
genealogy  of  Christ.  She  was  counted  one  of  the 
four  chief  beauties  of  Israel  along  with  Sarah,  Abi- 
gail, Esther  (Mayor).  "Eight  prophets  who  were 
also  priests  are  descended  from  the  harlot  Rahab" 
(Megilla  14b).  Certainly,  there  is  no  desire  in 
James  nor  in  Hebrews  to  dignify  her  infamous 
trade  which  she  renounced,  but  only  to  single  her 
out  as  a  brand  snatched  from  the  burning  by  the 
power  of  God. 

6.   The  Union  of  Faith  and  Works.    2:26. 

This  is  what  James  pleads  for,  not  the  divorce 
between  creed  and  conduct,  which  is,  alas,  only  too 
prevalent  even  to-day.  There  should  be  an  indis- 
soluble marriage  between  faith  and  works,  a  union 
as  close  as  that  between  spirit  and  body.  "For  as 
the  body  apart  from  the  spirit  is  dead  (rd  au\ia  %^pk 
Trvevfiarog  veicpov   tonv),    even    so    faith    apart    from 


142   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

works  is    dead"    (ovrcjg  mi  t\  rriarig  x^Pk   epyw  veicpd 

toTiv).  By  "spirit"  here  James  means  simply  the 
breath  of  life  without  which  the  body  is  dead. 
"False  faith  is  virtually  a  corpse"  (Hort).  By  this 
striking  paradox  James  strikes  at  the  root  of  the 
whole  matter  and  has  his  last  word  on  the  subject. 
Hort  remarks  that  James  by  the  use  of  the  phrase 
"justified  by  works"  (e£  epywv  edimiudr))  seems  to  be 
answering  Paul  in  Rom.  4:  i  or  a  misuse  of  Paul's 
"justified  by  faith"  (Rom.  5:  1),  though  he  does  not 
see  how  James  could  have  seen  Paul.  I  have  already 
expressed  my  own  conviction  that  James  and  Paul 
are  not  really  answering  one  another.  They  are 
discussing  different  aspects  of  the  subject  and  touch 
only  at  points  and  go  off  along  other  lines.  In  all 
probability  each  would  agree  to  the  statements  of 
the  other  if  the  language  of  each  were  put  in  the 
proper  perspective.  Certainly,  they  agreed  when 
they  were  together  in  Jerusalem  (Acts  15;  Gal.  2:1- 
10).  But  it  is  important  for  us  that  our  faith  shall 
be  real  and  vital  and  not  hollow  and  dead. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Tongues  of  Teachers.     3:1-12 

James  carries  on  the  discussion  of  "slow  to  speak" 
(1:  17).  He  has  just  been  writing  about  idle  faith 
(nioTig  agyfi)  in  2 :  14-26,  and  now  he  proceeds 
(Plummer)  to  expound  the  peril  of  the  idle  word 
(pfj^a  dpyov),  "wrong  speech  after  wrong  action" 
(Hort).  Indeed,  in  1:  26  he  had  already  mentioned 
the  failure  to  bridle  the  tongue  as  a  sure  sign  of  vain 
religion.  Now  he  expands  the  matter  in  a  remark- 
able paragraph.  The  transition  is  thus  not  so 
abrupt  as  at  first  seems  to  be  the  case,  and  ap- 
parently from  the  first  he  planned  this  discussion 
of  the  tongue.  Probably  it  comes  here  (Plummer) 
because  controversies  about  faith  and  works  were 
already  rife.  Here  James  speaks  "against  those  who 
substitute  words  for  works"  (Plummer),  a  rather 
large  class,  alas!  "In  noble  uprightness,  he  values 
only  the  strict  practice  of  concrete  duties,  and 
hates  talk"  (Reuss),  if  it  is  only  talk.  James  has  the 
gift  of  condensation.  He  can  write  on  talk  without 
taking  twenty  volumes,  like  Carlyle,  to  prove  that 
if  speech  is  silvern,  silence  is  golden  (Plummer).  The 
"overvaluation  of  theory  as  compared  with  prac- 
tice" (Mayor)  condemned  in  chapter  2  is  still 
present  with  James  as  he  discusses  the  tongue. 

1.  An  Over  supply  of  Teachers.    3:  ia. 

We  are  not  here  to  think  simply  of  official  teachers 
like  Paul's  apostles,  prophets,  teachers  (1  Cor.   12: 

143 


144   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

28f. ;  Eph.  4:  11).  In  the  Didache  (xiii.  2,  xv.  1,  2) 
teachers  (SiddoKaXot)  are  placed  on  a  par  with 
prophets  (npoffirai)  and  higher  than  bishops  (kirlcnco- 
■noi)  and  deacons  (SidKovot).  There  is  no  doubt 
that  teaching  received  tremendous  emphasis  in  the 
work  of  the  early  Christians.  Jesus  is  the  great 
Teacher  of  the  ages  and  is  usually  presented  as 
teaching  (tiidao/cu).  In  the  Jewish  "Houses  of 
Learning"  (synagogues)  teaching  was  as  prominent 
an  element  as  worship.  The  official  teachers  passed 
away  and  the  modern  Sunday  school  movement  is 
an  effort  to  restore  the  teaching  function  in  the 
churches.  The  true  preacher  should  be  a  teacher 
also,  but  many  preachers  are  more  evangelistic  and 
hortatory  than  didactic.  The  best  preachers  com- 
bine all  these  elements  and  build  up  (oUodofxicS)  the 
saints  in  the  faith  to  which  they  have  been  won. 
Even  the  mission  work  of  modern  Christianity  has 
had  to  lay  new  emphasis  on  the  educational  side  of 
Christian  effort.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  morn- 
ing service  in  public  worship  should  not  be  a  teach- 
ing service  and  the  evening  service  more  evangelistic. 
Teachers  are  necessary.  People  '  'having  itching  ears 
will  heap  up  to  themselves  (tniaojpevaovoiv  eavrolg) 
teachers  after  their  own  lusts"  (2  Tim.  4:  3).1  Epic- 
tetus  (Bk.  Ill,  chap,  xxiii,  §29)  says:  Rufus  "used 
to  speak  in  such  a  way  that  each  of  us  as  we  sat 
thought  that  someone  had  accused  us  to  him." 

But    James    here    is    thinking    of    the    unofficial 
teachers  (diddonaXoi)  in  the  churches.      In  the  Jew- 

1  In  Hernias  (Sim.  9:22)  we  read  of  teachers  who  OiAovoiv  kdeXodi. 
d&oitaXot  rival  u<f>puvt:<;  Svref.     Sadly  true. 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        145 

ish  synagogues  there  was  wide  latitude  allowed  for 
strangers  and  others  to  speak.  Jesus  took  advan- 
tage of  this  opportunity  and  taught  freely  in  the 
synagogues  (Matt.  12:  off.;  Mark  1:39;  Luke  6: 
i4ff.).  There  would  be  interruption  and  violent 
opposition  at  times  (cf.  John  6:  59-66).  Paul  used 
the  courtesy  to  strangers  to  speak  in  the  Jewish 
synagogues  and  met  with  open  opposition  at  times 
(cf.  Acts  13:  15,  45;  18:6).  In  Corinth  we  have  a 
striking  instance  of  the  evil  of  promiscuous  teaching, 
unrestrained  and  unregulated  (1  Cor.  14).  It  be- 
came necessary  for  Paul  to  rebuke  the  church  for 
unseemly  disorder.  There  were  many  who  were 
only  too  ready  to  be  carried  away  by  any  new- 
fangled doctrine.  There  is  safety  in  free  discussion, 
which  acts  as  a  safety-valve  and  also  leaves  a  de- 
posit of  truth.  But  the  acrimonious  spirit  had  a 
fine  opportunity  to  display  itself.  Men  of  arrogant 
convictions  and  little  knowledge  felt  that  they  "had 
no  need  to  learn  anything  from  their  brethren,  but 
were  fully  equipped  as  teachers"  (Johnstone),  "de- 
siring to  be  teachers  of  the  law,  though  they  under- 
stand neither  what  they  say,  nor  whereof  they 
confidently  affirm"  (1  Tim.  1:7).  Some  men  with  a 
certain  fluency  of  speech  really  had  no  message  and 
only  spoke  out  of  vanity  and  really  "thought  more 
of  the  admiration  which  they  might  excite  by  a 
display  of  their  powers  than  of  the  light  and  strength 
which  through  God's  grace  they  might  give  their 
brethren"  (Dale).  Evidently  James  is  here  con- 
cerned with  these  promiscuous,  officious,  irrespon- 
sible, self-appointed  teachers,  men  with  a  cock-sure 


146   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

explanation  of  all  difficulties,  not  afraid  to  rush 
in  where  angels  fear  to  tread.  The  world  was  full 
of  roving  teachers  with  every  sort  of  patent  "ism" 
to  dispense  to  the  public.  Both  Jews  and  Athenians 
were  eager  for  something  newer  than  the  last  stale 
theory  (the  very  latest  fad).  The  synagogues  of  the 
Jews  and  the  churches  of  the  Christians  offered  a 
fine  platform  for  these  cranks  to  air  their  notions. 
Besides,  some  of  the  best  of  men,  earnest  Christians, 
have  a  "Lust  for  Talk"  (Sir  W.  Robertson  Nicoll) 
that  leads  them  into  all  sorts  of  excesses. 

James,  therefore,  is  pleading  for  restraint  and 
moderation  when  he  says:  "Be  not  many  of  you 
teachers"  (p)  noXXoi  diddanaXot.  ylveade).1  "Do  not 
swell  the  ranks  of  the  teachers"  (Moffatt).  Teachers 
are  absolutely  necessary,  but  the  thing  can  be 
overdone.  Some  learners  {\ia6i\rai,  disciples)  are 
needed.  Liberty  within  reasonable  limits  must  be 
allowed,  but  not  rank  license.  Men  must  not  be 
too  eager  to  teach  what  they  do  not  know.  There 
is  no  danger  of  an  oversupply  of  well-equipped 
teachers  who  are  masters  of  the  message  of  Christ. 
There  are  still  too  many  who  are  incompetent,  and 
therefore  the  accent  on  "teacher- training"  in  the 
vSunday  schools  is  most  timely.  The  caution  of 
James  is  pertinent  to-day,  but  we  must  not  dis- 
courage timid  souls  who  can  learn  to  teach  and 
who  ought  to  undertake  it.  The  greatness  of  the 
teacher's  task  must  not  be  overlooked.  James 
warns  us  against  its  abuse.  There  is  a  mental  sloth 
that  is  as  bad  as  this  eagerness  to  be  teachers,  a 

1  Cf .  Vulgate  Nvlile  plures  magistri  fieri,  not  doctores. 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        147 

lazy  satisfaction  with  the  elements  of  Christianity 
and  failure  to  grow  into  the  position  of  teachers  of 
the  doctrines  of  grace,  continuing  as  babes  unable 
to  digest  solid  food  (Heb.  5:  12). 

2.  The  Peril  of  Teachers.    3  :  ib. 

Teaching  has  to  be  done.  There  is  no  escape 
from  that,  but  those  who  teach  must  understand 
their  responsibility.  They  are  doctors  (from  doceo, 
to  teach)  of  the  mind  and  heart.  They  cannot 
escape  their  responsibility,  as  spiritual  surgeons, 
for  they  deal  with  the  issues  of  life  and  death, 
"knowing  that  we  shall  receive  heavier  judgment" 
(eidorsg  on  fiel^ov  KQi\ia  Xrjfiijjofieda) .  In  seasons  of  re- 
ligious excitement  it  is  particularly  desirable  that 
men  shall  bear  this  fact  in  mind.  There  is  danger 
for  the  teacher  and  for  those  that  hear  and  are  led 
astray  by  foolish  talk.  Feeling  was  probably  run- 
ning high  in  some  of  the  churches,  and  there  was 
occasion  for  the  sobering  words  of  James.  "The 
penalty  of  untruth  is  untruth,  to  imbibe  which  is 
death"  (Taylor).  One  has  only  to  recall  the  words 
of  Jesus:  "And  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  idle 
word  (pri^a  dgyov)  that  men  shall  speak,  they  shall 
give  account  thereof  in  the  day  of  judgment.  For 
by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy 
words  thou  shalt  be  condemned"  (Matt.  12:36^). 
It  is  easy  to  be  overconfident,  like  the  complacency 
of  the  Jews  of  whom  Paul  said  that  each  was  con- 
fident that  he  was  "a  corrector  of  the  foolish,  a 
teacher  of  babes"  (Rom.  2:20).  "Blind  leaders  of 
the  blind"  (Matt.  15  :  14)  are  they.    It  is  bad  enough 


148   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

to  break  one  of  the  least  commandments,  but  who- 
ever does,  "and  shall  teach  men  so,  shall  be  called 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven"  (Matt.  5:19). 
There  is  no  escaping  the  fact  that  a  heavier  penalty 
rests  on  preachers  and  teachers  who  leave  a  trail  of 
error  behind  them.  This  point  of  view  explains 
Paul's  anxiety  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  for  the  future 
of  Christianity,  as  it  had  to  confront  Pharisaism, 
Gnosticism,  Mithraism,  the  Emperor-Cult,  and  the 
hundred  and  one  vagaries  of  the  age.  Certainly,  a 
teacher  must  speak  his  mind.  He  must  be  intel- 
lectually honest  and  tell  what  he  sees,  only  he  is  not 
called  upon  to  give  his  guesses  at  truth  as  truth. 
There  is  no  harm  in  a  teacher's  being  interesting. 
He  ought  to  be  if  he  can,  but  not  at  the  expense  of 
truth.  Freedom  of  teaching  is,  moreover,  quite  con- 
sonant with  fidelity  to  truth.  Surely  one  does  not 
have  to  be  a  mere  traditionalist  in  order  to  escape 
wild  speculation.  He  must  bring  forth  things  new 
and  old  if  they  are  true.  The  severest  words  that 
fell  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  are  against  the  Pharisees 
who  filled  the  place  of  teachers  for  the  Jews,  but 
who  "say  and  do  not,"  who  "sit  on  Moses'  seat"  as 
authoritative  teachers  and  yet  "strain  out  the  gnat, 
and  swallow  the  camel"  (Matt.  23).  "Woe  unto  you 
lawyers!  for  ye  took  away  the  key  of  knowledge: 
ye  entered  not  in  yourselves,  and  them  that  were 
entering  in  ye  hindered"  (Luke  11:  52).  The  trag- 
edy of  that  situation  beggars  description.  The  child 
was  kept  in  the  dark  while  at  school  because  the 
teacher  did  not  let  in  the  light.  "The  hungry  sheep 
look  up  and  are  not  fed." 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        149 

3.   The  Test  of  Perfection.    3  :  2a. 

Others  besides  teachers  have  pitfalls,  for  teachers 
are  not  the  only  errant  men.  "For  in  many  things 
we  all  Stumble"  {-rroXXd  ydg  TXTaioyiEv  dnavreg).  James 
includes  himself  in  this  category.  The  Vulgate  reads 
"ye"  in  verse  1  (swmitis),  not  willing  to  admit  that 
James  ran  any  risk  about  the  heavier  judgment,  but 
that  is  not  the  correct  text.  James  shows  no  dispo- 
sition to  exempt  himself.  One  and  all  (anavreg)  we 
make  many  slips,  stumble  over  (7rra/oju£v)  something 
in  the  path.  Our  falls  are  only  too  frequent  (noXXd). 
Who  is  the  perfect  man  ?  Seneca  (Clem.  1 :  6)  says : 
"We  all  sin"  (peccamus  omnes).  But  Epictetus  (Bk. 
IV,  chap,  iv,  §  7)  uses  the  word  for  "sin"  (d^aprdvw) 
for  merely  "commit  a  fault."  He  has  a  weak  con- 
ception of  sin.  Epictetus  also  (Bk.  I,  chap,  xxviii, 
§  23)  says:  "No  man  stumbles  on  account  of  another's 
action."    But  surely  he  is  in  error  here. 

Teachers  are  particularly  liable  to  stumble  in 
speech,  for  precisely  in  that  sphere  their  activity  lies 
(Plummer).  This  point  is  common  to  all  {d  rig). 
Most  assuredly,  all  men  are  guilty  of  sins  of  speech. 
Each  one  is  sure  to  stumble  there  sooner  or  later. 
This  is  a  very  easy  test  of  one's  perfection.  He  can 
be  prodded  by  the  tongue.  "The  scribes  and  the 
Pharisees  began  to  press  upon  him  vehemently 
(Setvibg  kvex^iv),  and  to  provoke  him  to  speak 
(dnooTOfidfriv)  of  many  things;  laying  wait  (evedpev- 
ovreg,  ambush)  for  him,  to  catch  (drjpevoat,  as  if 
wild  game)  something  out  of  his  mouth"  (Luke  11: 
53f.).  Yes,  but  they  were  all  the  more  angry  when 
the  one  Perfect  Man  kept  control  of  his  tongue. 


150   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

Smart  lawyers  often  try  to  trip  a  witness  in  his 
talk.  It  is  hard  to  be  consistent  in  talk,  true  in 
talk,  clean  in  speech.  "If  any  stumbleth  not  in 
word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  (riXeiog)  man."  "Who- 
ever avoids  slips  of  speech  is  a  perfect  man"  (Mof- 
fatt).  "Thou  art  snared  with  the  words  of  thy 
mouth"  (-rrayig  loxvpa  avdgi  to,  Idia  xei^V>  Prov.  6:2. 
Note  avdpi,  man,  not  woman).  Cf.  Sirach  28:  12-26 
for  pungent  remarks  on  speech.  "That  which  pro- 
ceedeth  out  of  the  man,  this  defileth  the  man" 
(Matt.  15:  11).  The  chemical  reaction  to  talk  is  a 
test  that  we  cannot  refuse.  It  is  open  to  the  least 
expert  to  apply  to  us.  Teachers  cannot  escape  this 
inevitable  test.  The  rest  of  this  paragraph  consists 
of  a  series  of  remarkable  illustrations  of  the  power 
of  the  tongue. 

4.   The  Bridle  and  the  Horse.    3  :  2b,  3. 

The  man  who  does  control  his  tongue  is  able  to 
bridle  the  whole  body  also  (cf.  1 :  26),  for  the  body 
goes  with  the  tongue.  In  fact,  nothing  is  com- 
moner than  for  one  to  make  a  rash  statement  and 
then  to  feel  compelled  to  stand  by  it  for  the  sake  of 
imaginary  consistency.  Hort  keenly  observes  that  the 
force  of  "also"  (mi)  after  "the  whole  body"  is  that 
a  man  who  can  bridle  his  tongue  can  bridle  his 
whole  body.  The  tongue  is  a  real  Bucephalus  and  it 
takes  an  Alexander  to  master  him.  It  is  really  won- 
derful how  a  spirited,  impetuous  horse  can  be  sub- 
dued by  bit  and  bridle.  The  spirit  does  not  go  out 
of  the  horse,  but  his  restless  energy  is  under  control 
and  guidance.     James  does  not  mean  that  a  man 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        151 

should  be  dumb  and  lifeless,  without  ambition  and 
power,  but  simply  that  his  tongue,  like  all  the  rest 
of  the  body,  should  be  kept  in  control.  This  figure 
of  bridling  the  tongue  (xa^lva70)7Vaai) ,  as  already 
noted  (1:26),  is  one  of  the  most  vivid  figures  in 
all  languages.  David  said:  "I  will  take  heed  to 
my  ways,  that  I  sin  not  with  my  tongue;  I  will 
keep  my  mouth  with  a  bridle"  (Psa.  39:  1).  It 
is  not  merely  that  the  tongue  is  so  hard  to  put  a 
bridle  on  (cf.  the  mouths  of  some  horses),  but  also 
that  the  tongue  has  such  an  influence  on  the  whole 
body  (okov  to  oojfia),  able  thus  to  lead  the  body  by 
the  bridle  (xaXivayuyrioai) }  The  horse  has  to  follow 
his  mouth,  in  which  the  bridle  is  placed.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  bridle  is  that  the  horses  may  obey  us 
(elg  rd  neideodai  avrovg  rjfilv),  and  it  is  thoroughly  suc- 
cessful as  a  rule.  "We  turn  about  their  whole  body 
also"  (|U£Tdyo|uev)  along  with  the  mouth.  So  we 
should  place  bridles  in  our  mouths  for  the  deliberate 
purpose  of  controlling  the  tongue.  It  will  not 
happen  by  accident.  The  very  finest  people,  like 
blooded  horses,  are  hardest  to  control.  We  are 
to  repress  the  impulsive  and  petulant  word.  Thus 
we  train  our  own  tongues  and  make  it  easier  to  sub- 
due the  other  members  of  the  body.  One  member 
cannot  be  allowed  to  lead  the  whole  body  into  sin. 
Pluck  it  out,  if  it  be  the  right  eye  or  the  right  hand 
(Matt.  5:  29).  The  members  of  the  body  are  all  so 
related  as  to  be  affected  by  what  the  others  ex- 
perience. "The  eye  cannot  say  to  the  hand,  I 
have  no  need  of  thee"  (1  Cor.   12:21).     Without 

1  Cf .  Hernias,  Mand,  12.  I. 


152   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

this  bridle  on  the  tongue  there  is  no  true  self-control. 
A  tongue  loose  at  both  ends  means  a  man  whom 
everyone  shuns  as  a  nuisance.  If  the  bridle  is  good 
for  the  horse,  it  is  far  more  so  for  the  man.  The 
difference  is  that  the  man  has  to  put  (fidXXa)  the 
bridle  into  his  own  mouth  and  in  his  dual  capacity 
as  rider  and  horse  master  himself,  the  most  un- 
manageable of  steeds.  A  garrulous  man  is  a  bore 
at  best,  while  a  woman  with  a  sharp  tongue  is  a 
terror  to  the  community.  Tell  no  secrets  to  a  talka- 
tive man,  and  few  to  anyone  save  your  wife.  A  man 
who  talks  to  hear  himself  talk  will  be  sure  to  tell 
what  he  ought  not  to  say.  The  writer  of  Hebrews 
refuses  to  go  on  with  too  many  details  about  his 
heroes  of  faith,  "for  the  time  will  fail  me  if  I  tell" 
(Heb.  ii  :  32),  "time  will  leave  me  telling"  (kmXetyei 
fie  yap  dt7)yovfievov) .  If  the  audience  held  the  bridle 
the  preacher  might  stop  sooner.  The  phonograph 
can  be  turned  off  at  will,  only  so  much  "canned" 
talk  at  a  time.  And  yet  talk  is  one  of  the  most 
delightful  things  in  all  the  world.  But  there  can  be 
too  much  of  a  good  thing,  if,  forsooth,  it  is  good. 
There  are  few  greater  nuisances  than  the  interrupter 
who  breaks  into  a  conversation  with  no  regard  for 
the  courtesies  of  the  occasion.  He  is  as  bad  as  the 
man  who  monopolizes  the  conversation  and  allows 
no  one  else  to  talk  at  all.  He  needs  a  stopper,  not 
a  bridle,  in  his  mouth. 

5.  The  Rudder  and  the  Ship.    3 :  4. 

With  great  wealth  of  imagination  James  proceeds 
to  illustrate  still  further  the  power  of  the  tongue 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        153 

over  the  rest  of  the  body.  The  point  is  clear  from 
the  illustration  of  the  bridle  and  the  horse,  but  it  is 
made  still  clearer  by  the  other  figures.  The  im- 
portance of  the  subject  justifies  this  piling  up  of 
metaphors.  "This  combination  of  the  horse's  bridle 
and  the  ship's  rudder  as  illustrative  of  the  tongue  is 
found"  (Hort)  in  Philo  and  Plutarch.  "The  argu- 
ment is  a  fortiori  from  the  horse  to  the  man,  and 
still  more  from  the  ship  to  the  man,  so  that  the 
whole  forms  a  climax,  the  point  being  throughout 
the  same,  namely,  the  smallness  of  the  part  to  be 
controlled  in  order  to  have  control  over  the  whole" 
(Plummer).  The  horse  is  an  irrational  creature  and 
yet  can  be  managed  by  the  bridle.  The  ship  has  no 
mind  at  all  and  yet  is  moved  "by  a  very  small  rudder" 
(vtto  kXaxlorov  TTi)daXiov)  ,l  "turned  about"  (nerdyerai. 
Cf.  fierdyofiev,  verse  3),  "whither  the  impulse  of  the 
steersman  willeth"  (onov  7/  opju?)  rov  evdevvovrog  [iovXe- 
rot).  The  "impulse"  may  be  like  "the  rush  of 
water"  (op^  vdarog)  in  Prov.  21:1  (LXX),  which 
is  there  compared  to  the  king's  heart,  for  God 
"turneth  it  whithersoever  he  will,"  or  like  the  rush 
or  onset  of  the  Gentiles  and  Jews  to  injure  Paul  in 
Iconium  (Acts  14:  5).  Here  it  is  the  gentle  pressure 
or  touch  of  the  hand  of  the  steersman  (evdevvovrog, 
dirigentis,  Vg.)  who  guides  the  ship  on  its  course 
straight  ahead,  as  he  decides  (jSovAerat,  intention, 
purpose  rather  than  mere  will,  diXei).2 


1  Only  here  and  Acts  27:40  in  the  N.  T.  It  is  from  m/Mc,  blade  of 
an  oar,  perhaps  kin  to  jrffa,  ttovc.  'EIo.x'otov  is  the  elative  superla- 
tive (cf.  Wisd.  14.  5).    The  Vulgate  has  a  modico  gubernaculo. 

2  Cf.,  however,  the  use  of  dfto  in  John  2:8  and  1  Pet.  3: 17. 


154  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

The  complete  mastery  of  the  steersman  over  the 
ship  is  accented  by  the  size  of  the  ancient  boats  in 
comparison  with  horses.  "Behold  even  the  ships" 
(Idov  icai  rd  TrXola),  so  probably  we  are  to  translate 
rather  than  by  "also,"  which,  "though  they  are  so 
great"  (rrj^iKavra  ovra.  Cf.  2  Cor.  i :  10),  are  yet 
turned  about  by  the  impulse  of  the  steersman, 
"even  when  they  are  being  driven  by  rough  winds" 
(«ot  vtto  avefiGiv  oKXrjpibv  eXawoneva),  if  here  again  we 
translate  "even"  instead  of  "also."  One  is  re- 
minded of  the  boat  in  which  Jesus  and  the  disciples 
were  crossing  the  Sea  of  Galilee  "now  in  the  midst 
of  the  sea,  distressed  by  the  waves"  ((3aoavit;6fievov 
vnd  Tuv  Ki'udrov,  Matt.  14:24).  The  "rough  winds" 
{dvtfioi  OKXqpoL  Cf.  Prov.  27:16,  LXX),  "stiff 
winds"  (Moffatt),  were  particularly  dangerous  for 
the  small  (from  our  standpoint)  ships  of  the  an- 
cients. But  the  steersman  could  hold  to  his  course 
even  over  a  rough  sea.  The  point  of  James  about 
the  size  of  the  ships  would  apply  with  far  more 
force  to-day  when  modern  leviathans  of  the  deep, 
like  the  Lusitania  and  the  Vaterland,  plough  the 
waters.  There  is  now  less  peril  from  the  stiff  winds, 
but  there  is  all  the  more  ground  for  wonder  that 
the  tiny  rudder  can  control  at  will  the  giant  of  the 
ocean.  The  steersman  can  drive  the  mighty  mon- 
ster straight  upon  an  iceberg  and  sink  it  in  a  few 
minutes,  as  in  the  crash  of  the  Titanic.  Great  as 
the  ship  is,  the  silent  forces  of  nature  are  still  greater. 
Man  has  not  yet  mastered  all  the  powers  of  nature. 
But  the  ship,  blind  to  its  fate,  responded  to  the  will 
of  the  steersman,  who  dashed  against  the  iceberg. 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        155 

The  lesson  is  only  too  obvious.  One  must  watch 
the  tongue  if  he  is  to  avoid  shipwreck.  The  tongue 
may  dash  the  whole  life  in  blind  rage  against  God. 
The  ship  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  objects  as  it 
rides  the  waves  in  proud  majesty.  But  more  beau- 
tiful still  is  a  life  that  is  not  marred  by  bad  or  bitter 
words.  Plutarch  (De  Garrulitate,  10)  says  that 
speech  beyond  control  is  like  a  ship  out  at  sea 
broken  loose  from  its  moorings. 

6.  The  Fire  and  the  Forest.    3 :  5f. 

The  power  of  the  tongue  over  the  body  in  general 
is  shown  by  the  bridle  and  the  rudder.  Now  the 
power  of  the  tongue  for  evil  is  specifically  illustrated 
by  the  metaphor  of  fire.  True,  the  tongue  is  a  little 
member  (plkqov  fieXoc;),  and  yet  (mi)  it  "boasteth 
great  things"  (fiey&Xa  avx^l),1  "can  boast  of  great 
exploits"  (Moffatt).  It  is  not  a  mere  empty  boast 
that  the  tongue  can  make.  It  is  hard  to  exaggerate 
the  power  of  the  tongue  which  is  able  to  sway 
great  multitudes  for  good  or  ill,  to  stir  the  wildest 
passions  of  man  to  uncontrollable  fury  or  to  exalt 
men  to  the  highest  emotions  of  their  natures.  The 
tongue  can  soothe  the  dying  or  damn  the  living. 
The  tongue  can  sing  like  a  songbird  or  growl  like  a 
lion.  The  tongue  can  speak  words  of  tenderest  love 
or  of  venomous  hate.  It  can  speak  like  a  megaphone 
in  trumpet  tones  or  in  a  whisper  almost  inaudible 


1  A  Theban  epitaph  (Kaibel,  Epigrammata  Graeca,  4891)  of  the 
4th  c.  A.  D.  "has  the  very  phrase"  (Moulton  and  Milligan,  Vo- 
cabulary of  the  N.  T.,  1914,  p.  94)  of  James  3:5  bv  fieyal'  av]xfoaoa 
iraiyuf  Qr)[P]n.     Note  the  alliteration  of  /«  in  James. 


156  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

save  to  an  eager  ear.  Plummer  tells  the  story  of 
Amasis,  king  of  Egypt,  who  sent  a  sacrifice  to  Bias 
the  sage  with  the  request  that  he  send  back  the 
best  part  and  the  worst.    He  sent  back  the  tongue. 

James  adds:  "Behold,  how  much  wood  is  kindled 
by  how  small  a  fire"  (Idov  tjXIkov  nip  7\kiKt\v  vXtjv  avdn- 
rei),  "what  a  forest  (vXtjv,  silvan,  Vg.)  is  set  ablaze 
by  a  little  spark  of  fire"  (Moffatt).1  The  figure  is 
that  of  timber  or  woodland  rather  than  a  pile  of 
wood.  Mayor  quotes  Milton:  "Into  what  pit  thou 
seest  from  what  height  fallen."  The  inflammatory 
Oriental  audience  with  the  high  pitch  of  voice, 
confusion  of  tongues,  and  wild  gesticulation  is  aptly 
compared  to  a  forest  fire  (Oesterley).2  There  is 
pathos  in  the  dreadful  forest  fires  that  annually  dev- 
astate our  country.  The  damage  each  year  amounts 
to  several  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  besides  the 
injury  to  future  generations  in  the  loss  of  the  bless- 
ings from  the  forests  in  many  ways.  In  most 
instances  these  forest  fires,  which  rage  with  un- 
controllable fury  when  the  wind  gets  up,  are  due 
to  accident  or  mischief.  A  spark  from  an  engine,  a 
cigarette  thrown  in  the  leaves  or  a  burning  match 
cast  to  one  side  by  a  hunter,  a  smouldering  camp- 
fire,  a  shot  from  a  gun — these  and  other  like  causes 


1  Note  the  double  use  of  yhinoq  for  how  little  (quantillus)  or  how 
large  (quantus).  The  context  makes  it  clear.  For  the  double  ques- 
tion, see  Mark  15:24.  Jesus,  in  Luke  12:49,  uses  the  word  avanru 
about  lighting  the  torch  for  his  own  sacrificial  death.  Cf.  P.  Giss.  I. 
3.  8  (A.  D.  117),  dvovreg  rag  kariag  avairrufxev  (Moulton  and  Milligan, 
Vocabulary,  p.  37). 

2  The  Midr.  Rabb.  on  Levit.  (xiv.  2)  xvi  has  quanta  incendia 
lingua  excitat  (Mayor). 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        157 

explain  most  of  these  conflagrations.  The  situation 
is  so  serious  that  the  national  government  has  a 
fire  patrol  to  guard  the  forest  reserves.  Once  a 
prairie  fire  starts  there  is  hardly  any  stopping  it 
till  it  burns  out.  Mice  and  matches  cause  over 
twelve  hundred  fires  each  year  in  New  York  City. 
Only  a  start  is  needed,  a  start  long  enough  to  get 
beyond  control,  and  we  have  the  horrible  holo- 
causts of  Chicago,  Baltimore,  Boston,  San  Francisco. 
"A  burning  fire  kindles  many  heaps  of  corn"  (Sirach 
11:32).  The  scholiast  on  this  verse  adds:  "There 
is  nothing  which  more  devastates  the  world  than  an 
evil  tongue."  Nero  set  fire  to  Rome  to  see  the 
grandeur  of  the  spectacle  and  he  fiddled  while  the 
city  burned.  Similar  irresponsibility  is  often  seen  in 
the  reckless  use  of  the  tongue. 

So  James  adds:  "And  the  tongue  is  a  fire"  (icai  fj 
yXiboaa  Trvp).  See  Prov.  16:27,  "And  in  his  lips 
there  is  a  scorching  fire."  Cf.  Sirach  28:21-23. 
"The  effect  is  that  of  an  underground  flame,  con- 
cealed for  a  while,  then  breaking  out  afresh"  (Carr). 
Indeed,  "the  world  of  iniquity  among  our  members 
is  the  tongue"  (6  koo\io<;  r-qq  dSiKtag  7\  yX&ooa  Kadiora- 
rai  kv  rolq  \iz\eow  t/juwv),  "the  tongue  proves  a  very 
world  of  mischief  among  our  members"  (Moffatt). 
The  tongue  was  made  for  good  use,  and  in  itself  is 
good,  but  it  has  been  prostituted  to  evil.  So  here 
the  very  word  for  "is"  {Kadiararai.  Cf.  4:4,  "mak- 
eth  himself")  brings  out  this  distinction.  The  tongue 
"is  constituted"  so,  not  is  so  by  nature.  So  now  we 
say  that  a  man's  tongue  has  run  away  with  him. 
The  tongue  has  made  a  career  for  itself,  "the  world 


158   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

(realm)  of  iniquity,"  "the  unrighteous  world"  (Hort). 
It  was  made  the  best  of  members,  but  has  run  riot 
till  it  has  become  the  personification  of  injustice 
(adaciag)  and  all  sorts  of  wrong.  The  Vulgate  has 
it  here  Universitas  iniquitatis  rather  than  mundus. 
One  thinks  of  our  use  of  "university"  a  world  in 
itself  for  good  or  ill.  Jesus  spoke  of  "the  mammon 
of  unrighteousness,"  "the  judge  of  unrighteousness." 
So  the  tongue  represents  the  world  of  iniquity  and 
has  become  "the  chief  channel  of  temptation  from 
man  to  man"  (Mayor).  "They  have  set  their 
mouth  against  the  heavens,  and  their  tongue  walk- 
eth  through  the  earth"  (Psa.  73  :  9).  This  microcosm 
epitomizes  the  macrocosm  of  evil.  Bengel  has  it  a 
macrocosmo  ad  microcosmum.  The  evil  wrought  by 
the  tongue  ramifies  through  the  whole  of  society 
and  goes  on  and  on  in  its  deadly  influence. 

It  "defiles  the  whole  body"  (^  omXovaa  oXov  rd  ooj^ia), 
"staining  the  whole  of  the  body"  (Moffatt).1  The 
Vulgate  has  maculat.  Jesus  had  said:  "That  which 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth,  this  defileth  the  man" 
(Matt.  15:11).  At  first  James  seems  to  overstate 
the  matter,  but  modern  science  reenforces  his  point. 
It  is  now  known  that  angry  words  cause  the  glands 
of  the  body  to  discharge  a  dangerous  poison  that 
affects  the  stomach,  the  heart,  the  brain.  The  effect 
is  usually  temporary,  but  sometimes  fatal.  It  is 
literally  true  that  such  choler  defiles  the  whole 
body.     Hate  has  the  same  effect.     The  chameleon 

1  Cf.  Jude  23,  iorrtfajfitvov.  Cf.  also  James  1 :2J,  iomtov,  and  2  Pet. 
2: 13,  (nriXot  nal  fiu/uoi..  One  thinks  of  the  smoke  and  soot  of  slander 
besmirching  all  that  it  touches. 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        159 

changes  color  according  to  its  emotions  and  en- 
vironment. The  tongue  not  only  commits  evil  by 
lying,  by  defending  sin,  and  by  leading  to  sin,  but 
it  leaves  a  deadly  stain  in  the  very  body  and  soul 
of  the  one  who  misuses  it.  "It  is  the  palmary  in- 
stance of  the  principle  that  the  best  when  perverted 
becomes  the  worst — corruptio  optimi  fit  pessima" 
(Plummer) . 
The  tongue  "setteth  on  fire  the  wheel  of  nature" 

(<pXoy'i£ovoa    tov  rgoxov    r%    yeveoeog) ,    "setting  fire    to 

the  round  circle  of  existence"  (Moffatt),  "the  whole 
circle  of  innate  passions"  (Oesterley),  "the  wheel  of 
man's  creation"  (Hort,  who  adds  "one  of  the  hardest 
phrases  in  the  Bible"),  "the  wheel  of  birth"  like 
the  Orphic  mysteries  (P.  Gardner),  "sets  the  whole 
creation  in  flames"  (Johnstone).  Perhaps  the  idea 
is  that  the  tongue  at  the  center  (hub)  of  the  wheel 
of  nature  sets  on  fire  the  rest  of  the  wheel.  One 
sees  just  this  thing  happen  in  a  pyrotechnic  display 
where  a  wheel  is  set  on  fire  in  the  center.  The  more 
it  burns  the  faster  it  revolves,  till  the  whole  wheel 
whirls  in  a  blaze  of  fire,  spitting  fire  as  it  whirls, 
regular  spit-fire.  Certainly,  the  tongue  can  set  fire 
to  all  the  baser  passions  in  the  wheel  of  life,  such  as 
envy,  jealousy,  faction,  anger,  avarice,  lust,  murder. 
This  fire  spreads,  not  simply  through  the  whole  man, 
but  may  infect  "various  channels  and  classes  till  the 
whole  cycle  of  human  life  is  in  flames"  (Plummer). 

It  is  not  surprising  that  James  adds:  "and  is  set  on 
fire  by  hell"  {^>Xoyi^o\ikvi]  vrrd  rye;  yeevvyg),  "with  a  flame 
fed  by  hell"  (Moffatt),  inflammata  a  gehenna  (Vul- 
gate).   It  is  the  devil,  the  slanderer  (6  dedfiokos)  par 


160   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

excellence,  who  sets  on  fire  "the  chariot-wheel  of  man 
as  he  advances  on  the  way  of  life"  (Hort).  It  is  first 
inflamed  by  hell  {yeewa,  not  adr^g ;  place  of  the  wicked, 
not  the  unseen  world  for  all)  and  then  inflames  all 
the  wheel  of  nature.  The  torch  is  lighted  in  hell, 
and  the  hellish  flame  kindles  the  tongue,  which  in 
turn  sets  fire  to  the  whole  nature.  Thus  the  fire 
was  started  and  is  habitually  replenished  (note  tense 
of  4>X(yyi^ofiev7j) .  The  Valley  of  Hinnom  (</>dpayf  'Evvop) 
or  Tophet  was  first  just  the  type  of  the  abode  of  the 
wicked,  and  then  the  continual  fires  there  kept 
burning  were  transferred  to  the  next  world.  Cf.  "the 
fire  of  Gehenna"  (Matt.  5:  22).  But  one  must  not 
forget  that,  while  the  tongue  can  be  set  on  fire  of 
hell,  it  can  also  be  touched  by  a  live  coal  from  God's 
altar.  "Woe  is  me!  for  I  am  undone;  because  I  am 
a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a 
people  of  unclean  lips:  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the 
King,  Jehovah  of  hosts.  Then  flew  one  of  the 
seraphims  unto  me,  having  a  live  coal  in  his  hand, 
which  he  had  taken  with  the  tongs  from  off  the 
altar;  and  he  touched  my  mouth  with  it,  and  said, 
Lo,  this  hath  touched  thy  lips;  and  thine  iniquity  is 
taken  away,  and  thy  sin  forgiven"  (Isa.  6:5-7). 
Let  us  gain  comfort  from  the  experience  of  Isaiah 
in  the  contemplation  of  the  solemn  warning  of 
James.  One  may  note  also  that  tongues  as  of  fire 
sat  on  the  heads  of  those  who  were  filled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  on  the  great  Day  of  Pentecost.  The 
tongue  can  be  set  on  fire  of  heaven  and  can  pass 
on  the  holy  fire  of  God  from  soul  to  soul,  thus  light- 
ing the  light  of  God  in  the  human  life. 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        161 

7.  Taming  of  Wild  Beasts.     3  :  7L 

James  recurs  to  the  beasts  (cf.  horse  and  bridle) 
for  a  broader  discussion.  The  tongue  is  unbridled 
all  too  often  and  is  the  most  unmanageable  of  wild 
animals.  He  had  just  said  that  the  tongue  is  set 
on  fire  of  hell.  "The  fact  that  the  tongue  is  the  one 
thing  that  defies  man's  power  to  control  it  is  a  sign 
that  there  is  something  satanic  in  its  bitterness" 
(Mayor).  He  uses  the  language  of  Oriental  exag- 
geration in  giving  further  proof  of  his  strong  state- 
ment, a  justifiable  hyperbole:  "For  every  kind  of 
beasts  and  birds  (naoa  yap  (j>vaig  dyp'Mv  re  icai  Trereivtiv)  ,x 
of  creeping  things  and  things  in  the  sea  (epneribv  re 
ml  kvaXiojv),2  is  tamed,  and  hath  been  tamed  (6a[j,d^- 
erat,   icai    deddfiaoTat)3  by  mankind  (ry   (pvoet   ry   dvdpcj. 

Trivq."4  "The  art  of  taming  is  no  new  thing,  but  has 
belonged  to  the  human  race  from  the  first"  (Mayor). 
It  is  perhaps  not  strictly  true  that  every  conceivable 
animal  has  been  subjected  by  man,  but  no  one  in  the 
light  of  the  past  and  the  present  can  say  that  any 
animal  is  untamable.  It  is  now  a  common  enough 
thing  to  see  in  a  wild  animal  show,  performing 
tigers,  leopards,  lions,  elephants,  monkeys,  dogs, 
horses,  parrots,  seals,  bears,  and  even  serpents.  It 
is  not  merely  that  wild  animals  may  be  domesti- 

1  Note  the  pleonastic  force  of  tyvciq  like  natura.  Note  also  the 
pairs  (re  /cat).    The  word  dr/pia  may  include  insects  like  bees. 

2  Cf .  Vulgate  ser pentium  et  ceterorum.  Note  the  list  in  Gen.  1:26; 
9:2;  1  Kings  4:33. 

3  Note  change  of  tense,  first  durative  or  linear,  then  state  of 
completion. 

4  Note  use  of  tyvoiq  again  and  repetition  of  the  article  to  single 
out  the  adjective  in  contrast  with  the  tyvuq  of  beasts. 


1 62  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

cated  (cf.  the  wolf  and  the  dog),  like  the  zebra  and 
the  wild  turkey  (America's  contribution  to  the 
world's  barnyard),  but  they  may  be  taught  to  do 
acts  and  tricks  that  show  rudimentary  reasoning 
powers.  The  eye  of  man  can  subdue  the  lion,  the 
tiger,  the  serpent  as  Jesus  subdued  the  untamable 
demoniac  (Mark  5:4),  "and  no  man  had  strength 
to  tame  him"  (/cat  ovdeig  loxvaev  avrdv  dan&oai),  Man 
has  proved  his  kingship  over  the  other  creatures  as 
God  gave  him  dominion  (Gen.  1:26).  In  many 
cases  animals  have  become  so  domesticated  that 
they  feel  no  longer  at  home  elsewhere.  Man  is 
proud  of  his  lordship  over  beast  and  bird  and  over 
the  forces  of  nature,  like  wind  and  wave  and  elec- 
tricity. Man  can  swim  like  a  fish  (for  a  little  while), 
can  run  like  a  deer  (for  a  bit),  and  can  now  even  fly 
like  a  bird  in  the  aeroplane  with  its  artificial  wings. 
He  can  talk  without  wires  over  thousands  of  miles 
with  unseen  persons.  He  can  speed  over  land  and 
sea  like  the  wind.  He  can  send  a  message  around 
the  earth  with  the  swiftness  of  the  light. 

But  he  cannot  control  his  own  tongue.  "But  the 
tongue  no  man  can  tame"  (ttjv  Si  ykibaoav  ovdei$  Sa\ia- 
aai  dvvarcu  avdpuTruv) .  Here  is  the  language  of  help- 
lessness, as  in  the  case  of  the  demoniac  in  Mark 
5:4.  Strictly  speaking,  of  course,  the  tongue  is 
merely  the  organ  of  speech  and  speech  is  under  the 
control  of  the  mind.  By  a  bold  figure  James  almost 
personifies  the  tongue  as  a  separate  personality.  "It 
combines  the  ferocity  of  the  tiger  and  the  mockery 
of  the  ape  with  the  subtlety  and  venom  of  the  ser- 
pent" (Plummer).     It  is  thus  the  very  chimaera  of 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        163 

wild  beasts !  This  is  the  picture  of  the  tongue  in  its 
natural  state,  the  tongue  of  the  unregenerate  man. 
The  Spirit  of  God  can  cleanse  a  man's  mouth  of 
profanity  and  unclean  speech.  "Keep  thy  tongue 
from  evil  and  thy  lips  from  speaking  guile"  (Psa. 
34:  13).  Paul  puts  up  the  bars:  "No  filthiness,  nor 
foolish  talking,  or  jesting,  which  are  not  befitting" 
(Eph.  5:4).  Once  more  he  says:  "Let  no  corrupt 
speech  proceed  out  of  your  mouth"  (4:  29).  Surely, 
if  one  has  such  an  untamable  little  animal  in  his 
mouth  as  the  tongue,  he  needs  to  watch  it  with 
ceaseless  care.  The  evil  of  the  tongue  echoes  and 
reechoes  through  a  community  and  often  through  the 
ages.  The  evil  slander  can  never  be  stopped.  The 
lie  is  fleet  of  foot  and  eludes  truth  in  a  race. 

"It  is  a  restless  evil"  (aKaraoTarov  kclkov),  "piague 
of  disorder  that  it  is"  ( Moffat t),  "a  disorderly 
evil"  (Hort),  iniquitum  malum  (Vulgate).  It  is  un- 
stable and  unreliable,  inconsistent  and  quixotic.  It 
can  never  be  trusted  to  the  full.  It  will  turn  on  one 
when  off  guard  like  the  lion  when  the  keeper  turns  his 
eye  away.  It  can  be  brought  under  no  rules  that  will 
work. 

"It  is  full  of  deadly  poison"  (iiearr)  lov  0avaTrj<p6pov) . 
It  is  "death-bringing"  {davarrjcpogov,  mortifero)1  poison 
{lov)  like  the  poison  of  asps  under  their  lips  (log  donidov 
imb  rd  xzilr\  avT&v),  Psa.  140:  3.  "Their  poison  is  like 
the  poison  of  a  serpent ;  they  are  like  the  deaf  adder 
that  stoppeth  her  ear"  (Psa.  58:  4).  The  poison  of 
the  serpent  is  deposited  in  a  little  pocket  under  the 

1Cf.  LXX,  Job  33:23;   4  Mace.  8:17  for  the  word  davarq^poc^ 
Common  in  Plato  and  Xenophon. 


1 64  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

mouth.  So  the  tongue  is  charged  with  the  venom  of 
hate  as  the  serpent  with  poison.  The  hiss  of  the 
serpent  and  the  hiss  of  the  goose  are  often  repro- 
duced in  the  sibilant  tongue  of  slander. 

8.  Sweet  and  Bitter  Water.    3  :  9-1 1. 

The  inconsistency  of  the  conduct  of  the  tongue  is 
graphically  portrayed  by  these  verses.  Plummer 
happily  terms  it  "the  moral  contradictions  of  the 
reckless  talker."  There  is  in  very  truth  moral  chaos 
if  the  Christian  does  not  control  his  tongue.  Incon- 
sistency is  not  an  evil  per  se.  If  one  is  wrong  he 
ought  to  be  inconsistent  enough  to  change  and  do 
right.  But  it  is  terrible  to  see  a  professing  Christian 
lightly  lapse  into  loose  ancWicentious  language.  "The 
fires  of  Pentecost  will  not  rest  where  the  fires  of 
Gehenna  are  working"  (Plummer).  James  had 
spoken  (1:8)  of  the  double-minded  man  (dtyvxog), 
unstable  (atcaTdoTaTog)  in  all  his  ways.  The  tongue 
with  the  gift  of  double  entendre  is  one  of  the  very 
worst,  a  word  that  passes  muster  in  polite  circles 
and  yet  carries  to  the  initiated  a  sinister  or  salacious 
meaning.  Epictetus  (Ench.  xxxiii,  §  16)  says:  "But 
dangerous  also  is  the  approach  to  indecent  speak- 
ing." But  the  double  tongue  (fc-yXuooog)  that  talks 
one  way  with  one  person,  another  with  another,  is 
utterly  unreliable,  the  mark  of  double  dealing,  hy- 
pocrisy, the  slick-tongue,  the  oily  tongue  of  the  two- 
faced  man,  whose  word  cannot  be  depended  upon, 
whose  word  is  not  as  good  as  his  bond.  Sirach 
(5:13)  says:  "Honor  and  shame  are  in  talk;  and 
the  tongue  of  man  is  his  fall."    He  also  (28:  12)  has 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        165 

this:  "If  thou  blow  the  spark,  it  shall  burn;  if  thou 
spit  upon  it,  it  shall  be  quenched;  and  both  these 
come  out  of  thy  mouth."  It  looks  as  if  James  had 
seen  this  passage  from  the  Twelve  Patriarchs  (Ben- 
jamin 6:5):  "The  good  mind  hath  not  two  tongues 
(6vo  yXuooac),  of  blessing  and  of  cursing  (evXoylag  mi 
Karagaq),  of  contumely  and  of  honour,  of  sorrow  and 
of  joy,  of  quietness  and  of  confusion,  of  hypocrisy 
and  of  truth."  We  may  omit  the  inconsistency  of 
"sorrow  and  of  joy,"  for  that  is  the  lot  of  all  of  us, 
but  certainly  the  tongue  must  not  play  the  part  of 
Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde.  "Therewith  bless  we  the 
Lord  and  Father"  (kv  avrxj  svXoyovfiev  rov  kvqiov  nai 
Trarepa),1  the  only  instance  of  this  precise  combina- 
tion of  words  in  the  Bible,  expressing  God's  power 
and  loving  approachableness  (cf.  Matt.  11:25).  The 
highest  function  of  human  speech  (Hort)  is  the 
praise  of  God  the  Father.  Note  how  when  Zacharias 
recovered  his  speech  he  first  praised  God  (Luke  1 : 
64,  kX&Xei  evXoyuv  rov  deov).  It  is  glorious  to  praise 
God  in  prayer,  in  song,  in  sermon.  "O  Lord,  open 
thou  my  lips;  and  my  mouth  shall  show  forth  thy 
praise"  (Psa.  51:  15).  "Praise  ye  Jehovah.  Praise 
Jehovah,  O  my  soul.  While  I  live  will  I  praise 
Jehovah:  I  will  sing  praises  unto  my  God  while  I 
have  any  being"  (Psa.  146:  if.) 

So  far  so  good.  "Bless  and  curse  not"  (evAoyeire 
ml  [xi]  narapdode,  Rom.  12:  13).  Curse  not  God  in 
anger  nor  in  flippant  profanity.  The  tongue  that 
praises  God  surely  will  not  profane  his  name.     But 

1  Note  the  instrumental  use  of  iv,  as  in  LXX  and  koivtj  else- 
where. 


1 66  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 
curse  not  men  "who  are  made  after  the  likeness  of 

God"  (rovg  Kad'  bfio'MOiv  deov  yeyovorag) ,  those  who  are 
like  God  in  their  moral  and  spiritual  nature  and  not 
like  the  beasts  of  the  field  (Gen.  i :  26;  2  Cor.  3 :  18). 
And  yet,  horribile  dictu,  this  is  precisely  what  we  do. 
"Therewith  curse  we  men"  (tv  avry  Karapoifitda) . 
James  here  includes  himself  in  the  common  run  of 
humanity.  The  tongue  exercises  this  strange  power 
of  running  away  with  us  like  a  runaway  horse  with 
the  bit  in  his  mouth.  The  scorn  of  men  for  men  is 
seen  in  John  7 :  49  in  the  sneer  of  the  Pharisees  at 
the  mob:  "This  multitude  that  knoweth  not  the 
law  are  accursed"  (endparoi).  It  is  most  likely, 
however,  personal  abuse  that  James  here  refers  to. 
Men  who  are  made  in  God's  image  are  abused  by 
the  very  tongue  that  blesses  God.  We  curse  other 
children  of  our  common  Father,  God.  James  does 
not  mean  even  by  implication  to  approve  cursing  at 
all.  Far  from  it.  It  is  the  wicked  man  whose 
"mouth  is  full  of  cursing"  (Psa.  10:  7).  If  we  do  not 
love  our  brother,  we  do  not  love  God  (1  John  4:  20). 
And  yet  "out  of  the  same  mouth  cometh  forth 
blessing  and  cursing"  (etc  rov  avrov  ardfiaTog  eijepxerai 
evXoyia  itai  Kardpa).  We  make  our  tongue  a  sort  of 
combination  of  Mount  Ebal  and  Mount  Gerizim. 
"My  brethren,  these  things  ought  not  so  to  be"  (ov 

XP^l,  adeX<poi  jxov,  ravra  ovtu>^  yeveadai),1  a  mild  state- 
ment all  the  more  effective  from  its  very  temperate- 
ness. 

The  point  is  easy  to  illustrate.     "Doth  the  foun- 

1  The  only  instance  of  Xf*h  in  the  N.  T.    Elsewhere  iel.    But  note 
Prov.  25:27.    It  is  weaker  than  Sei  (necessity). 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        167 

tain  (py  «  %  TTijyrj)1  send  forth  (/3pv«)2  from  the  same 
opening  (e«  rijg  birffg)3  sweet  water  and  bitter  (to  yXv- 
kv  Kal  rb  nucpov)?"  James  was  familiar  with  the 
brackish  waters  of  parts  of  Palestine.  The  water  of 
the  Dead  Sea  is  really  bitter  (niKg&v),  though  fed  by 
the  snows  of  Hermon  and  the  sweet  (yXvicv)  springs 
of  the  Jordan  Valley.  The  waters  of  Marah  were 
bitter  (Exod.  15:  23),  and  one  may  recall  "the  water 
of  bitterness  that  causeth  the  curse"  (Num.  5:  18, 
23).  See  also  Rev.  8:11  for  the  waters  that  were 
made  bitter.  Pliny  (N.  H.  ii.  103)  tells  a  fable  of  a 
fountain  of  the  sun  that  "was  sweet  and  cold  at 
noon  and  bitter  and  hot  at  midnight"  (Mayor).  It 
is  possible  to  sweeten  water,  as  we  see  in  the  great 
filtering  plants  in  our  modern  cities.  Yes,  and 
sweet  water  can  become  bitter.  But  water  is  not 
sweet  and  bitter  at  the  same  time  from  the  same 
fountain.  You  have  sweet  water  on  Hermon  and 
salt  water  in  the  Dead  Sea  (also  called  the  Salt  Sea) , 
but  not  both  in  the  same  place. 

9.  The  Vine  and  the  Fig  Tree.    3:  12. 

James  has  not  only  a  new  image  here,  but  also  a 
new  point  of  view  (Hort).  He  has,  in  9-1 1,  shown 
the  inconsistency  of  two  kinds  of  speech  from  the 
same  tongue.  Now  he  goes  deeper  to  the  heart 
behind  the  utterance.  The  comparison  is  here  made 
between  the  heart  and  its  utterance  (tongue).    The 


1  fit  n  expects  the  answer  "No."      Tlvyv  is  fons. 
1  Used  chiefly  of  the  budding  of  plants,  but  also  of  the  bubbling  of 
water,  gurgling  up. 
1  bnJ}  is  the  cleft  in  the  rock  out  of  which  the  water  bursts  (fipvei). 


1 68   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

grape  and  the  fig  are  the  commonest  fruits  in  Pales- 
tine. "Each  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit"  (Luke  6 :  44). 
Yes,  and  Jesus  had  just  said  (6:43):  "For  there  is 
no  good  tree  that  bringeth  forth  corrupt  fruit;  nor 
again  a  corrupt  tree  that  bringeth  forth  good  fruit." 
It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  the  point  made  some- 
what as  James  has  it.  So  Epictetus  (Diss.  ii.  20): 
"How  can  a  vine  grow,  not  vinewise,  but  olivewise, 
or  an  olive,  on  the  other  hand,  not  olivewise,  but 
vinewise?  (^  kXautcjs  dXX'  dpreAt/cws';).1  So  Jesus: 
"Either  make  the  tree  good  and  its  fruit  good;  or 
make  the  tree  corrupt  and  its  fruit  corrupt"  (Matt. 
12:33).  Once  more  hear  Jesus:  "Do  men  gather 
grapes  of  thorns  or  figs  of  thistles?"  (Matt.  7:  16). 
It  is  the  appeal  to  life. 

It  has  been  charged  that  James  exaggerates  the 
evil  of  the  tongue,  but  one  who  knows  life  as  it  is 
must  agree  with  James.  Sirach  says:  "Curse  the 
whisperer  and  the  double-tongued  (dioori),  for  such 
have  destroyed  many  that  were  at  peace"  (28:  13). 
Plummer  quotes  also  a  clause  from  the  Syriac  that  is 
not  in  the  Greek:  "Also  the  third  tongue,  let  it  be 
cursed;  for  it  has  laid  low  many  corpses."  Sirach 
(28:  14L)  continues:  "A  third  (or  backbiting)  tongue 
hath  unsettled  many,  and  driven  them  from  nation 
to  nation;  and  strong  cities  hath  it  pulled  down, 
and  overthrown  houses  of  great  men.  A  back- 
biting tongue  hath  cast  out  capable  women,  and 
deprived  them  of  their  labors."  The  "third  tongue" 
injures  three  classes   (Plummer):   the  person  who 

1  Seneca  (Ep.  XIII.  2.  25)  says:  Non  nascitur  itaque  ex  malo 
bonum,  non  magis  quam  ficus  ex  olea. 


THE  TONGUES  OF  TEACHERS        169 

utters  the  slander,  the  one  who  listens,  and  the  one 
of  whom  the  slander  is  told.  It  is  a  triple  sin  and 
only  sin.  "No  more  can  salt  water  yield  fresh" 
(ovre  aXvKbv  yXvuv  noifjaai  vdup),  James  adds,  and  his 
conclusion  falls  with  the  force  of  a  trip-hammer. 
The  crisp  wisdom  of  James  about  the  tongue  makes 
one  wonder  afresh  if  his  mother  had  not  taught 
him  some  of  these  aphorisms  as  a  child. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  True  Wise  Man.    3:  13-18 

The  connection  between  this  paragraph  about 
wisdom  and  the  preceding  discussion  of  the  perils 
of  the  tongue  is  very  close.  James  is  still  thinking 
of  the  men  who  supposed  that  they  had  true  faith, 
but  who  did  not  practice  it,  "men  who  supposed 
that  they  had  a  deeper  wisdom  and  a  larger  knowl- 
edge than  their  brethren,  and  who  were  continually 
asserting  their  claim  to  be  teachers"  (Dale).  But 
Hort  considers  the  passage  on  the  tongue  a  "long 
digression,"  a  view  hardly  tenable.  These  am- 
bitious teachers  had  overlooked  the  havoc  wrought 
by  tongue  (and  pen).  James  has  given  a  needed 
warning  about  that  phase  of  the  subject  and  now 
turns  to  the  subject  matter  itself.  The  ambitious 
teacher  will  do  all  the  more  harm  if  he  is  not  merely 
a  bungler  of  real  wisdom,  but  a  disseminator  of  false 
wisdom.  Already  the  air  was  full  of  all  sorts  of 
fads  and  fancies  that  appealed  to  the  unthinking 
and  the  unwary.  The  Essenes,  the  Pharisees,  the 
Sadducees,  the  Epicureans,  the  Stoics,  the  Mithraists, 
the  Gnostics,  the  Judaizers,  the  Cult  of  Emperor 
Worship,  with  more  or  less  distinctness  were  clamor- 
ous for  a  hearing.  There  were  professional  Sophists, 
who  traveled  over  the  country  with  patent  solutions 
of  all  problems.  Some  appealed  to  the  nervous  or 
the  neurotic,  like  "Christian  Science"  to-day;  others 

170 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  171 

to  the  ignorant,  like  Russellism  or  Mormonism. 
Paul  will  later  discuss  both  speech  and  wisdom  "as 
good  things  liable  to  grievous  abuse"  (Hort)  in 
1  Cor.  1:5,  17;  2  and  3. 

1.  The  Call  for  the  Wise  Man.    3:  13a. 

"Who  is  wise  and  understanding  among  you?" 
(rig  ao(pdg  Kot  emorrmov  kv  vfilvy).  The  question  does 
not  mean  that  nobody  is  wise  and  understanding, 
but  it  calls  a  halt  on  the  rush  of  volunteers  who 
have  apparently  a  superfluity  of  wisdom.  An  over- 
plus of  conceit  is  intolerable  for  normal  persons. 
Job  (12:2)  has  our  sympathy  when  he  retorts  to  his 
officious  advisers:  "No  doubt  but  ye  are  the  people 
and  wisdom  will  die  with  you."  Once  more  Job 
(28:  12)  asks:  "But  where  shall  wisdom  be  found? 
And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding?"  Here,  as 
very  often  in  the  Old  Testament,  we  have  wisdom 
and  understanding  used  together.  God  gave  Solo- 
mon wisdom  and  understanding  (1  Kings  4:29). 
"Wisdom  is  the  principal  thing;  therefore  get  wis- 
dom, and  get  understanding"  (Prov.  4:7).  In  Psa. 
107:43  we  have  the  question:  "Who  is  wise?"  (rig 
oo<pog$.  James  is  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
wisdom  literature  of  the  Jews,  both  canonical  and 
uncanonical,  and  is  at  home  in  the  handling  of  this 
theme.  His  words  are  not  many,  but  they  carry 
much  of  depth  and  power. 

Many  of  the  professional  wise  men,  then  as  now, 
were  frauds  who  easily  duped  the  gullible  populace. 
They  were  magicians  like  Simon  Magus,  who  gave 
it  out  that  he  was  some  great  man,  and  the  idle 


172   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

crowd  took  him  at  his  high  estimate  of  himself  (Acts 
8:  off.).  Note  also  the  case  of  Barjesus  (Acts  13: 
8ff.)  and  the  Jewish  exorcists  (19:  i3ff.).  Tne  suc_ 
cess  of  these  men  is  one  of  the  most  humiliating 
contemplations  about  our  common  humanity.  Car- 
lyle  bluntly  called  most  people  fools.  But  there 
were  really  wise  men  then  also,  like  the  Magi  and 
others,  who  sought  light  and  truth.  Oesterley  thinks 
that  James  by  this  question  appeals  to  the  self- 
respect  of  his  hearers,  who  are  tired  of  men  with 
"the  lust  of  teaching  and  talking"  (Plummer). 
James  is  still  directing  blows  at  sham  religion,  and 
there  is  ample  cause  for  such  attacks  in  all  the  ages. 
Hypocrisy  flourishes  in  all  ages  and  in  all  climes. 
It  has  a  marvellous  vitality,  this  meanest  of  para- 
sites. 

The  combination  of  "wise"  (ooQog)  and  "under- 
standing" (kwrn/fwov)  is  not  without  point  (cf.  Deut. 
4:6;  Isa.  5.21).  This  is  the  only  instance  of  the  com- 
bination in  the  New  Testament.  In  classic  Greek 
the  second  word  was  used  of  a  skilled  or  scientific 
person  who  had  gained  technical  knowledge  of  a 
subject.  It  implies  personal  acquaintance  and  ex- 
perience, not  mere  abstract  knowledge  or  intellectual 
apprehension  of  the  theory  of  a  thing.  It  is  book- 
learning  plus  practical  application  as  opposed  to  one 
without  this  special  training.  Then  the  word  for 
wise  is  given  by  Clement  of  Alexandria  (Strom.  I.  v.) 
to  mean  "the  understanding  of  things  human  and 
divine,  and  their  causes."  It  is  the  word  found  in  the 
term  "philosophy"  and  implies  thoughtfulness,  pene- 
tration, grasp  of  the  relations  of  things,  and  the  right 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  173 

use  of  one's  knowledge  for  the  highest  ends.1  There 
are,  forsooth,  learned  fools,  men  who  have  a  lumber 
of  learning  in  their  heads,  but  in  a  disorderly  jumble. 
In  the  use  of  James  the  only  really  wise  man  is  he 
who  places  God  in  the  center  of  his  life,  who  serves 
Christ  as  Lord  and  Master,  who  keeps  the  intellect 
in  subjection  to  the  will  of  God.  There  are  plenty 
of  ignorant  fools  also,  men  who  have  neither  intel- 
lectual apprehension  nor  practical  wisdom.  It  is 
hard  to  tell  which  is  the  sadder  spectacle,  the  learned 
fool  or  the  ignorant  fool.  But  certainly  a  premium 
is  not  to  be  placed  upon  either  class.  Both  classes 
of  fools  are  to  be  kept  out  of  the  ranks  of  teachers 
and  preachers  if  it  can  be  done.  Advice  on  all  sorts 
of  subjects  is  so  plentiful  that  there  seems  to  be  an 
abundance  of  easygoing  wisdom.  But  the  world  is 
still  eager  to  listen  to  the  True  Wise  Man  if  he  can 
be  found  (cf.  Van  Dyke's  "Other  Wise  Man").  But 
the  very  reputation  for  wisdom  may  lead  to  posing 
as  a  wise  man.  James  dares  to  challenge  the  candi- 
dates for  teachers  of  wisdom  in  the  churches.  Is  it 
not  possible  that  not  enough  care  is  taken  in  the 
choice  of  teachers  in  the  churches  and  the  ordination 
of  preachers  of  the  gospel? 

2.  The  Proof  of  the  Wise  Man.    3 :  13b. 

Wisdom  is  not  a  matter  for  mere  technical  in- 
quiry. One  has  to  stand  an  examination  on  wisdom; 
but  it  is  that  of  life,  unwritten  and  written;  that  of 
deeds,  not  of  words.     "Let  him  show  by  his  good 

1  2o(j>ia  ranks  highest  of  all  the  words  for  intellectual  attainment 
or  endowment  (yvwffif,  irriyvuoig,  kncar^fi^,  avveaic,  ^povr/aic). 


174   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

life  his  works  in  meekness  of.  wisdom"  (deify™  kit  t^ 
KaX^  avaoTpocprjs  to  epya  avrov  ev  -npavTqrL  oo<piag).     This 

test  of  the  wise  man  is  put  in  a  peculiarly  Jacobean 
style.  The  very  position  of  the  word  "show"  is 
emphatic,  the  first  word  in  the  sentence.  If  one 
may  use  the  vernacular,  we  are  all  "from  Missouri" 
and  "have  to  be  shown"  when  it  comes  to  each 
other's  wisdom.  The  test  is  the  acid  test  of  deeds, 
not  words.  We  may  quibble  over  words  and  talk 
like  a  wise  man,  but  time  will  prove  our  words  by 
our  deeds.  One  may  speak  like  a  wise  man  and  in 
reality  be  the  biggest  sort  of  a  fool,  yea,  of  a  scoun- 
drel. People  have  learned  to  discount  mere  talk 
when  it  stands  alone.  Just  being  a  preacher  is  not 
enough.  One  must  practise  what  he  preaches.  The 
Roman  Catholic  doctrine  relieves  the  priest  from 
the  obligation  to  live  the  morality  which  he  preaches, 
but  surely  that  is  a  travesty  on  the  ethics  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  false  ethics  and  false  religion.  People 
have  a  right  to  hold  the  preacher  to  the  standard 
of  the  gospel,  just  as  he  has  the  right  to  urge  upon 
them  the  highest  ideals  of  conduct.  There  is  a 
wonderful  levelling  process  going  on  all  the  time. 
Lincoln  said  with  rare  wisdom  that  a  man  may  fool 
all  the  people  part  of  the  time,  and  some  of  the 
people  all  the  time,  but  not  all  the  people  all  the 
time. 

The  greatest  asset  that  the  preacher  has,  after  all, 
is  his  life,  a  long  life  of  piety  and  consecration. 
There  is  no  answering  that  argument,  "by  his  good 
life  his  works."  This  is  the  only  proof  that  counts 
in   the  long   run.      The  King  James   Version  has 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  175 

here  "good  conversation"  (e«  t%  mXrig  dvaorpo^rig) , 
which  was  good  old  English  (conversatio,  conver- 
sari),  originally  one's  conduct  or  bearing  (turn- 
ing oneself  about,  the  precise  idea  in  the  Greek 
word).1  But  long  ago  the  English  confined  the  word 
to  talk,  perhaps  because  some  people  did  little  else 
but  talk.  But  the  quaint  old  English  must  give 
way  to  the  modern  preciseness  of  speech.  It  is  the 
beautiful  (naXog)  manner  of  life  that  speaks  the 
language  of  business  to-day,  the  flower  of  a  white 
life  that  adorns  the  profession  of  the  service  of 
Christ.  But  even  so,  it  must  be  behaviour  that  is 
sincere,  that  finds  expression  in  acts  (epya),  not 
mere  external  mannerisms,  posing,  attitudinizing, 
stage-effect.  Nothing  is  more  repulsive  than  pro- 
fessional pietists  who  attract  attention  to  themselves 
rather  than  to  Christ  the  Lord.  It  is  a  case  pre- 
eminently where  actions  speak  louder  than  words 
and  where  words  alone  do  more  harm  than  good. 
Bengel  puts  it  tersely:  re  potius  quam  verbis.  In 
simple  truth  the  more  a  man  says  in  claim  of  su- 
perior wisdom  the  less  he  is  credited  with  the  pos- 
session of  any  wisdom. 

But  it  is  not  merely  a  case  of  deeds  versus  words, 
but  also  of  "gentleness  and  modesty  versus  arrogance 
and  passion"  (Mayor),  "in  meekness  of  wisdom" 
(«v  TtpavTTjTi  oo(f>iag),  "with  the  modesty  of  wisdom" 
(Moffatt).     Meekness  was  not  ranked  high  among 


1  Epictetus  (Bk.  I,  chap,  vii,  §  2)  has  it  avaoTpoQijv  ryv  (iv)  avry 
nadliKovcav.  Moulton  (Vocabulary,  p.  38)  notes  the  absence  of  the 
word  in  this  sense  in  the  papyri,  though  the  verb  avaorpfycodat  is 
common.     The  substantive  is  frequent  in  the  inscriptions. 


176   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

the  Greeks.  Aristotle  (Eth.  Nic.  IV.  v.)  considered 
it  a  second-rate  virtue,  "the  mean  between  pas- 
sionateness  and  impassionateness"  (Plummer) .  Epic- 
tetus  (Bk.  II,  chap,  i,  ch.  36)  says:  "But  think 
that  thou  art  nobody  and  that  thou  knowest  noth- 
ing." The  Christian  conception  rests  upon  the  idea 
in  the  Psalms,  where  meekness  is  a  favorite  trait  of 
the  devout.  "The  meek  will  he  guide  in  judgment; 
and  the  meek  will  he  teach  his  way"  (25:9).  "The 
Lord  upholdeth  the  meek"  (147:6).  In  Sirach 
(3:18)  we  read:  "The  greater  you  are,  the  more 
you  humble  yourself"  (oo<p  \ieyas  el,  tooovtu  raneivov 
oeavrov).  But  there  is  no  word  comparable  to  that 
of  Jesus,  who  said  of  himself:  "I  am  meek  and  lowly 
in  heart"  (Matt.  11:29,  irgavg  elfii  icai  raneivog  ry 
mpdia)  in  his  plea  for  men  to  come  to  him  as  teacher. 
It  is  an  essential  prerequisite  in  the  teacher,  else  he 
is  unapproachable  and  is  aloof  and  cold.  Jesus  pro- 
nounced a  beatitude  on  the  meek  (Matt.  5:5),  but 
he  did  more :  he  exemplified  meekness  in  his  life. 

By  meekness  James  does  not  mean  effeminacy  or 
weakness  (any  more  than  Jesus).  He  does  mean 
the  absence  of  pretentiousness  and  wilfulness. 
Peter  (1  Pet.  3:  15)  uses  the  expression  "with  meek- 
ness and  fear"  for  the  spirit  with  which  one  is  to 
defend  the  faith,  the  "reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in 
you."  There  can  be  firmness  and  courage  without 
bumptiousness  and  bigotry.  There  are  frequent  ex- 
hortations in  the  New  Testament  along  this  line 
(cf.  Gal.  6:  1 ;  2  Tim.  2 :  24;  1  Cor.  4:  21).  The  wise 
man  wears  the  crown  of  modesty.  This  spiritual 
paradox  seems  absurd  to  the  merely  worldly  wise. 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  177 

3.  The  Disproof  of  the  Wise  Man.    3  :  14. 

"The  possession  of  wisdom  was  made  a  claim  to 
teachership"  (Hort).  So  the  absence  of  wisdom  is  a 
positive  disqualification.  One  may,  no  doubt,  possess 
wisdom  and  yet  not  be  able  to  teach.  But  the  lack 
of  wisdom  is  itself  a  sufficient  bar.  The  wrong  spirit 
shows  the  lack  of  wisdom.  "But  if  ye  have  bitter 
jealousy  and  faction  in  your  heart"  (el  6e  ZfiXov 
ttikqov  e^ere  icai  igidiav  ev  ry  Kagdla  Vjuwv),  what  then? 
There  were  many  controversialists  who  had  both  of 
these  vices.  Jealousy  (tfit-og)  is  not  evil  per  se. 
It  wavers  between  the  good  and  evil  sense  and  in 
itself  is  merely  zeal  «&o,  to  boil),  which  may  be  for 
good  or  ill.  For  the  good  use  see  2  Cor.  11:2;  Gal. 
1:  14).  Sometimes  this  zeal  was  not  according  to 
knowledge  (Rom.  10:  2).  Envy  ((pdovog)  is  distin- 
guished from  zeal  (emulation)  by  Aristotle  (Rhet. 
ii.  11.  1).  But  in  the  New  Testament  the  bad  sense 
of  this  word  prevails  (James  4:3;  1  Cor.  2,'  3',  Gal. 
5:20;  Rom.  13 :  13)  and  it  is  listed  with  the  works  of 
the  flesh.  The  bitterness  (micpov)  of  jealousy  is  only 
too  well  understood  by  those  who  give  way  to  this 
petty  vice.  It  tastes  bitter  and  the  taste  lasts  a 
long  time.  Bitterness  is  itself  punishment  enough 
for  the  victims  of  the  sin  (Eph.  4:31).  The  other 
word,  "faction"  or  "party  spirit"  (epidia),  has  an 
uncertain  etymology,  probably  from  the  word  for 
"hireling"  (epidog).  At  any  rate,  the  word  is  soon 
applied  to  partisans  who  court  and  bribe  adherents 
to  their  candidate.  It  presents  the  very  quintessence 
of  partisanship  and  of  narrow-mindedness.  This  is 
not  a  mark  of  wisdom  and  is  not  a  thing  to  boast  of 


178   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

at  any  rate.  "Glory  not"  (jii)  KaraKavxdade)  about  it, 
"do  not  pride  yourselves  on  that"  (Moffatt).  And 
yet  this  is  precisely  what  many  of  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians were  doing  already.  Thus  they  lied  against 
the  truth,  were  "false  to  the  truth,"  as  Moffatt  has 
it  (ipevdeode  Kara  1-775-  dXrjdeiag) .  Such  partisan  triumph 
is  usually  obtained  by  underhand  methods  and  by 
the  suppression  of  part  of  the  truth.  There  is  such 
a  thing  as  "poisoned  truth,"  truth  with  poison  in  it. 
So  partisan  victory  often  leaves  a  bitter  sting  be- 
cause those  in  defeat  know  that  an  unfair  advantage 
has  been  taken  of  them  and  of  the  truth  of  God. 

It  is  clear  that  these  opening  chapters  in  the 
Epistle  of  James  reveal  a  pitiful  condition  of  con- 
troversy among  some  of  the  Jewish  churches,  such 
as  Paul  has  to  rebuke  in  Corinth  later  (cf.  1  Cor. 
1  to  4).  "The  whole  Christianity  of  many  a  dev- 
otee consists  only,  we  may  say,  in  a  bitter  contempt 
for  the  sins  of  sinners,  in  a  proud  and  loveless  con- 
tention with  what  it  calls  the  wicked  world"  (Stier). 
The  point  of  James  is  precisely  this.  The  very  con- 
tentiousness which  they  regarded  as  supreme  proof 
of  their  qualifications  as  exponents  of  the  faith  is 
here  urged  by  James  as  absolute  proof  that  they  are 
disqualified  for  the  position  of  teachers.  Their  bit- 
terness makes  it  improper  for  them  to  talk  about  love 
and  gentleness.  Sometimes  the  very  fierceness  of 
one's  contention  for  orthodoxy  drives  some  people 
into  heresy.  It  is  a  sad  outcome  when  one's  high 
and  holy  ambition  to  teach  the  things  of  Christ  is 
frustrated  by  a  Christless  spirit  of  wrangling  and 
personal  abuse. 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  179 

4.  The  Wisdom  from  Below.    3:  15L 

Wisdom,  forsooth,  is  precisely  what  we  all  need 
and  desire,  but  the  bitter  self-seeking  partisans  just 
described  "do  not  cherish  the  truth  except  as  a  pos- 
session of  their  own,  or  a  missile  of  their  own"  (Hort). 
"This  wisdom"  (avrrj  i\  aocpia),  that  claimed  by  the 
pompous  bigots  in  verse  14,  can  only  be  so  described 
in  terms  of  courtesy  or,  more  exactly,  of  irony.  It 
is  only  wisdom  so-called  and  is  real  folly.  It  is 
at  best  worldly  wisdom,  "earthly"  (kmyeiog) ,  not 
merely  in  the  sense  of  taking  place  on  earth  rather 
than  in  heaven  (John  3:  12),  but  with  the  earthly 
horizon  and  outlook  as  opposed  to  the  heavenly 
(enovpdvi og) ,  like  those  who  mind  earthly  things 
(ja  kmyeia  (ppovovvreg ,  Phil.  3:  19).  Such  a  wisdom 
passes  for  "the  wisdom  of  this  world"  (^  oofyia  tov 
Koofiov  tovtov,  i  Cor.  1:  20;  3:  19),  |}ut  is  distinctly 
not  "God's  wisdom,"  "a  wisdom  not  of  this  world" 
(1  Cor.  2:6f.).  "This  wisdom"  is  not  merely 
"earthly,"  but  does  not  come  down  from  above 
(ovk  eonv  avTTj  i]  aocpla  dvudev  KaTEpxofJ-Evri) »  more  ex- 
actly "is  not  of  a  kind  that  cometh  down" -  (Hort), 
not  such  a  wisdom,  indeed,  as  God  gives  (James 
1:  5).1  It  has  the  smell  of  earth  in  the  evil  sense 
of  that  term.  It  is  not  from  above,  but  in  reality 
from  below.  Jesus  said  to  the  Pharisees:  "Ye  are 
from  beneath ;  I  am  from  above :  ye  are  of  this  world ; 
I  am  not  of  this  world"  ('T^Eig  ek  t&v  kcLto  lark,  eyco 
ek  tu)v  dvcj  elfii  ■  v/ielc;  ek  tovtov  tov  itoofiov  eote,  sy<o  ovk 
slfil  ek  tov  k6g\lov  tovtov.  John  8:  23).  The  antithe- 
sis is  complete  both  in  origin  and  spirit.    The  axioms 

1  It  is  terrena,  not  coelestis. 


180  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

of  the  selfish,  like  "Look  out  for  'Number  One,'  " 
are  the  wisdom  of  the  devil:  "All  that  a  man  hath 
will  he  give  for  his  life"  (Job  2:4). 

This  selfish  wisdom  is  merely  that  of  the  "natural 
man"  (tpvxiKij) ,  not  a  mark  of  the  regenerate  spirit. 
There  is  no  single  English  word  that  properly 
renders  this  word.  "Psychic"  transliterates  it,  but 
does  not  translate  it.  "Sensual"  makes  it  too  much 
a  matter  of  the  body,  as  does  "fleshly,"  like  the 
Vulgate  animalis.  It  does  not  appear  in  the  Septua- 
gint  and  only  six  times  in  the  New  Testament 
(James  3:15;  Jude  19;  1  Cor.  2:19;  i5:44bis>  46). 
The  broad  distinction  between  soul  and  body  or 
mind  and  body  (dichotomy)  is  not  so  hard  to  grasp, 
but  the  threefold  division  (trichotomy)  into  spirit, 
soul,  and  body  (-nvev^a,  -tyvxr\,  ou)fj.a),  as  in  1  Thess. 
5 :  23,  seems  to  place  the  psuche  below  the  pneutna.1 
It  seems  clear  from  1  Cor.  2:  14  that  "the  spiritual 
man"  (6  TTvevnaTatdg)  is  the  regenerate  man,  while 
"the  natural  man"  (6  rfjvxatog)  is  the  unregenerate 
man,  in  his  unsaved  state  of  sin.  So  here,  therefore, 
this  earthly  wisdom  is  that  of  the  unregenerate 
man;  it  is  not  sanctified  wisdom.  He  may  not  be 
"carnal"  (oaput ko<; ) ,  not  the  slave  of  the  animal  pas- 
sions, but  merely  coldly  unspiritual.  Such  a  wisdom 
does  not  reach  the  higher  levels  of  the  man's  nature. 

But  it  is  still  worse.  Such  a  wisdom  is  "demonia- 
cal" (Saifioviudiis) ,  "devilish"  (diabolica,  Vulgate),  "in 
that  it  raised  up  the  very  devil  in  the  hearts  of  both 

1  Cf .  Jude  19,  4>vxmoi,  nvrv/ia  fiij  ixovreg.  See  also  I  Cor.  15:45 
for  distinction  between  irvtvpa  and  fvxv,  and  between  irvevfiaTtudv  and 

ifrvxil(6v. 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  181 

opposer  and  opposed"  (Oesterley).  It  is  wisdom 
such  as  that  which  demons  have  (Bengel),  not  such 
as  God  gives  (1:5).  It  is  the  wisdom  of  those  who 
do  the  will  of  the  flesh  (Eph.  2 :  2f.),  who  follow  the 
teaching  of  demons  (1  Tim.  4:1).  One  is  reminded 
of  the  words  of  Jesus  in  John  8 :  44 :  "Ye  are  of  your 
father  the  devil."  "Thus  the  wisdom  shared  by 
demons  answers  to  the  faith  shared  by  demons  of 
2:  19"  (Hort),  the  tongue  set  on  fire  by  hell  (3:6). 
It  is  indeed  a  keen  knowledge  of  human  nature  that 
James  here  reveals,  but  it  is  a  sad  indictment  all  the 
same.  It  reads  like  nature  in  the  rough,  red  in  tooth 
and  claw,  the  law  of  the  jungle,  not  the  law  of  grace. 
It  is  Nietzsche's  superman,  not  the  love  that  serves, 
that  came  to  minister,  not  to  be  ministered  unto. 
The  might  of  right  is  not  understood  by  those  who 
hold  that  might  is  right.  There  is  a  New  Paganism 
to-day  in  Berlin,  in  Paris,  in  London,  in  New  York. 
It  is  very  subtle  and  very  scornful  of  the  pity  of 
Jesus.  Red  blood  is  a  good  thing,  to  be  sure,  so  be 
it  that  it  courses  through  a  clean  heart.  The  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  is  the  law  of  nature,  but  fittest 
for  what?  The  law  of  the  wolves  is  to  turn  and 
devour  the  wolf  that  falls  in  the  chase.  The  philoso- 
phy of  Nietzsche  is  a  bit  more  brutal  in  its  plainness 
of  speech  than  the  wisdom  of  the  world  usually  puts 
it.  But  even  so,  its  demoniacal  character  stands  out 
more  sharply.  "I  want";  therefore  "I  have  the 
right  to  get."  This  is  the  policy  of  aggression  on 
the  part  of  nations  and  individuals,  of  rogues  and 
rapists,  of  grafters  and  white-slavers,  of  bank-looters 
and  oppressors  of  labor. 


i82   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

The  further  comment  of  James  elucidates  his 
point:  "For  where  jealousy  and  faction  are  (cf.  verse 
14),  there  is  confusion  and  every  vile  deed"  (e«« 

dKaraoraoia  kuX  rcdv  <pai>Xov  npaypa) .  Jealousy  and  fac- 
tion come  from  the  devil.  He  sows  suspicion  in  the 
churches,  in  the  midst  of  families,  in  the  hearts  of 
those  who  let  him  in.  James  had  already  (3 : 8) 
accused  the  tongue  of  being  a  restless  evil  and  (1:8) 
had  spoken  of  the  unstable  man.  God  is  not  the 
God  of  confusion,  but  of  peace  (1  Cor.  14:33),  so 
that  the  factions  in  the  churches  cannot  claim  God 
as  supporting  them  any  more  than  nations  at  war 
have  the  right  to  make  flippant  claims  that  God  is 
on  their  side  in  a  conflict.  Oesterley  has  a  fine 
description  of  the  spirit  of  the  professional  contro- 
versialist: "Acute  argument,  subtle  distinctions, 
clever  controversial  methods  which  took  small  ac- 
count of  truth  so  long  as  a  temporary  point  was 
gained,  skilful  dialectics,  bitter  sarcasms,  the  more 
enjoyed  and  triumphed  in  if  the  poisonous  shaft 
came  home  and  rankled  in  the  breast  of  the  op- 
ponent— in  short,  all  those  tricks  of  the  unscru- 
pulous controversialist,  which  are  none  the  less 
contemptible  for  being  clever — this  was  wisdom  of 
a  certain  kind."  But  in  reality  it  left  the  way  open 
for  "every  vile  deed,"  for  the  word  here  for  "vile" 
(<pavXov)  means  "worthless,"  not  "immoral."  In  the 
realm  of  morals  what  is  merely  indifferent  soon  gets 
to  be  bad.  The  Vulgate  puts  it  omne  opus  pravum. 
So  in  John  3 :  20  we  read:  "For  every  one  that  doeth 

evil    hateth     light"     (o    -navXa    -npdoouv   fuoel   to    (pug). 

Bugs  and  bats  hate  the  light.    There  is  a  toboggan 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  183 

slide  in  sin.  "The  easy  way"  is  the  evil  way.  See 
per  contra  James  1:17.  Anarchy  brings  moral  chaos 
(Plummer)  to  the  soul  as  to  nations.  The  wiseacres 
of  the  world  play  havoc  with  the  souls  and  bodies  of 
men  who  follow  their  lead  to  hell.  In  every  town 
there  is  a  bunch  of  men  who  cling  together  in  their 
evil  life  and  profess  a  wisdom  superior  to  that  of 
the  gospel.  They  know  it  is  a  lie,  but  they  comfort 
each  other  and  are  too  proud  to  break  away  from 
the  gang.  But  the  end  will  come.  There  are  no 
happy  old  men  save  those  that  are  Christians. 

5.   The  Wisdom  from  Above.    3:  17. 

There  is  wisdom  from  above  (dvudev) ,  that  is,  from 
God,  as  James  had  already  said  (1 :  5).  This  is  the 
true  wisdom,  God's  wisdom  both  in  source  and 
character.  James  had  not,  of  course,  seen  Paul's 
remarks  on  wisdom  in  1  Cor.  1  and  2,  if  he  wrote  his 
Epistle  by  A.  D.  50.  But  he  had  full  opportunity 
to  be  familiar  with  Proverbs,  the  Wisdom  of  Jesus 
the  Son  of  Sirach,  and  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon. 
"For  the  Lord  giveth  wisdom,  out  of  his  mouth  com- 
eth  knowledge  and  understanding"  (Prov.  3:6). 
"Wisdom  may  praise  herself,  and  glory  in  the  midst 
of  her  people"  (Sirach  24:  1).  "For  wisdom  is  more 
mobile  than  any  motion;  and  she  also  passeth  and 
goeth  through  all  things  by  reason  of  her  pureness. 
For  she  is  a  breath  of  the  power  of  God,  and  a  pure 
effluence  from  the  glory  of  the  Almighty;  therefore 
no  defiled  thing  falls  into  her.  For  she  is  a  reflection 
of  the  everlasting  light,  and  an  unspotted  mirror  of 
the  efficiency  of  God,  and  image  of  his  goodness" 


1 84  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

(Wisd.  7:24-26).  Once  more:  "For  she  is  more 
beautiful  than  the  sun,  and  above  every  position 
of  stars,  being  compared  with  the  light,  she  is  found 
superior"  (Wisd.  7:29).  But,  while  James  is  un- 
doubtedly conversant  with  the  Wisdom  literature  of 
the  Jews,  he  is  no  mere  copyist.  He  has  the  Chris- 
tian standpoint  and  makes  his  own  contribution  to 
the  discussion  of  wisdom.  His  words  are  few,  but 
fit,  and  strike  right  to  the  heart  of  the  subject. 

It  is  "first  pure"  (npcoTov  fiev  ayvr\  kanv).  Purity  is 
the  inner  characteristic  of  the  wise.  It  (ayvog)  is 
pretty  nearly  like  the  Latin  purus  (pure)  and  means 
not  so  much  cleansed  (/cadapog,  cf.  Matt.  5:8,  "the 
pure  in  heart")  as  a  combination  of  this  idea  and 
consecration  as  holiness  (ay tog).1  It  is  thus  free 
from  stain  or  defilement  of  any  kind  (not  merely 
sexual  purity),  like  a  ray  of  light,  "in  holiness  and 
sincerity  of  God"  (ev  dyiorijTi  nai  dXinoivia  tov  Oeov, 
2  Cor.  1:  12).  Christ  himself  is  called  pure  (dyvog, 
1  John  3:3),  the  ideal  toward  which  we  are  to  strive. 
We  must  learn  to  put  first  things  first.  In  wisdom 
purity  of  character  and  motive  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial at  any  cost. 

"Then  peaceable"  (enetra  np^vLK-q).  Important  as 
peace  is,  purity  is  paramount.  Peaceableness  is,  to 
be  sure,  the  outer  characteristic  of  wisdom,  and,  if 
one  has  the  bright  light  of  inner  wisdom,  he  will 


1  The  word  ayv6q  is  common  enough  in  the  inscriptions  for  cere- 
monial purity  and  also  for  ethical  purity.  It  is  applied  to  Athena 
Polias,  the  "Blessed  Virgin  of  Greek  Religion"  (Ditt.,  Syll.,  36420). 
tt)v  ndr/nov  ayvijv  napOevov.      See  Moulton  &  Milligan,  Vocabulary, 

P-  5- 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  185 

have  it.  But  wisdom  does  not  desire  peace  at  any 
price  nor  at  the  cost  of  purity.  ''All  her  paths  are 
peace"  (Prov.  3:17)  and  the  chastening  of  God's 
hand  yields  "peaceable  fruit  unto  them  that  have 
been  exercised  thereby"  (Heb.  12:11).  Plummer 
wisely  notes  that  the  order  of  James  here  is  logical 
and  not  always  strictly  chronological.  One  is  not 
to  compromise  with  evil  and  error,  but  all  the  same, 
if  one  is  to  have  no  peace  till  he  has  absolute  purity 
of  every  sort  in  his  environment,  he  must  needs  be 
always  at  war  and  never  rest  at  all.  An  equation  of 
common  sense  must,  of  course,  be  struck,  though 
there  is  the  constant  temptation  to  get  used  to  un- 
pleasant surroundings  and  finally  to  make  no  pro- 
test at  all.  Plummer  likewise  observes  that  James 
places  the  emphasis  on  the  spiritual  and  moral,  not 
on  the  intellectual,  just  the  opposite  of  modern 
ideals  of  culture  (Kultur)  and  education.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  position  of  James  to  justify  the 
Spanish  Inquisition,  for  instance.  The  persecutor 
has  often  consoled  himself  with  the  thought  that  he 
is  doing  his  victim's  soul  a  real  service  by  rescuing 
him  from  his  error.  Certainly,  if  one  is  pure,  it  is 
easier  for  him  to  be  peaceable,  provided  he  also  loves. 
"If  it  be  possible,  as  much  as  in  you  lieth,  be  at 
peace  with  all  men"  (Rom.  12  :  18).  There  is  a  great 
deal  in  the  New  Testament  on  the  subject  of  peace 
(elpijvii).  It  is  true  that  Jesus  said:  "I  came  not  to 
bring  peace,  but  a  sword"  (Matt.  10:  34),  when  men 
are  wedded  to  sin  and  can  only  be  shaken  loose  by  the 
sword  of  truth.  But  these  are  those  who  let  the  peace 
of  God  rule  in  their  hearts  as  umpire  (Col.  3:  15). 


186  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

We  are  to  pursue  the  things  of  peace  (rd  r^  elpTjvrjs 
dnl)KG)fiev,  Rom.  14:  19)  as  men  of  peace,  but  not  to  be 
afraid  to  stand  up  for  truth  and  righteousness  (pur- 
ity) even  if  we  have  to  fight. 

Then  "gentle"  (emeucfjg) ,  "forbearing"  (Hort). 
The  word  is  used  by  Thucydides  (viii.  93)  of  men 
who  will  listen  to  reason  and  (i.  76)  of  moderation, 
like  the  Latin  dementia.  Originally  the  word  meant 
what  was  fitting,  fair,  reasonable  (eUog),  but  it 
was  also  associated  with  the  idea  of  yielding  (eikm), 
"implying  one  who  does  not  stand  on  his  rights,  but 
is  ready  to  give  way  to  the  wishes  of  others"  (Mayor). 
Matthew  Arnold  gathered  the  idea  into  his  phrase 
"sweet  reasonableness."  Aristotle  (vi.  11)  uses  it  of 
the  forgiving  man,  one  who  does  not  stand  on  strict 
justice,  but  who  listens  to  merciful  consideration. 
Certainly,  gentleness  is  the  true  mark  of  the  gentle- 
man, who  does  not  stickle  over  little  points,  who,  in 
a  word,  is  considerate.  The  Christian  wisdom, 
therefore,  does  not  like  to  give  pain.  Paul  makes 
an  appeal  "by  the  meekness  and  gentleness  of 
Christ"  (Sid  rr/g  npavTTjTog  nai  kmeuciag  rov  Xqlotov, 
2  Cor.  10:1).  See  also  Acts  24:4;  1  Tim.  3:3; 
Titus  3:2;  1  Pet.  2:18  (gentle  masters);  and,  in 
particular,  Phil.  4:5:  "Let  your  forbearance  be 
known  unto  all  men."  It  means  the  very  essence 
of  fairness  as  opposed  to  unreasonableness  (Ps.  of 
Sol.  5 :  14).    Cf.  Paul's  panegyric  on  love  (1  Cor.  13). 

It  is  also  "easy  to  be  entreated"  (evneidrjg),  "con- 
ciliatory" (MofTatt).  The  word  is  a  common  one  for 
military  discipline  (4  Mace.  8:6;  Jos.  War  ii.  20,  7), 
though  it  does  not  occur  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testa- 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  187 

ment.  As  gentle  (bmeuefc)  refers  usually  to  one  in  a 
superior  position,  so  this  word  (eimei07fc)  _s  used 
mainly  of  one  in  an  inferior  rank  (Mayor).  The 
good  soldier  is  the  one  who  has  learned  how  to 
execute  orders.  Philo  employs  it  as  the  opposite  of 
the  disobedient  (diryfffc).  It  is  tractabilis,  not 
morosa.  The  Vulgate  has  suadibilis.  It  is  a  word  in 
common  use  about  children,  pupils,  all  who  obey 
laws.  If  preachers  were  always  gentle,  perhaps  the 
church-members  would  be  more  docile  and  teach- 
able. This  wisdom  from  above  is  suaviter  in  modo, 
fortiter  in  re. 

It  is  also  "full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits"  {iieorrj 
iXeovg  nai  Kapnuv  ayaduv).  This  is  just  the  reverse  of 
the  party-feeling  already  condemned.  Mercy  is  the 
active  principle  of  compassionate  love.  One  may 
note  already  1:8,  27;  2:13  in  contrast  with  2:15. 
This  wisdom  bears  good  ("wholesome,"  Moffatt) 
fruits,  not  mere  leaves  (empty  boasting).  The 
plural  (fruits)  shows  that  there  is  variety  and  abun- 
dance for  all.  It  is  not  satisfied  with  abstract 
virtue,  but  wishes  to  bless  others. 

This  wisdom  is  likewise  "without  variance"  (ddta- 
KQiToq),  "unambiguous"  (Moffatt).  The  word  oc- 
curs nowhere  else  in  the  New  Testament  and  has 
puzzled  translators  a  great  deal.  It  is  rendered 
"without  wrangling,"  "without  judging,"  "without 
partiality,"  "without  distinctions,"  "undoubted," 
"without  feigning,"  "without  doubtfulness,"  "unde- 
cided," "unhesitating,"  "unwavering,"  "single- 
minded."  The  Vulgate  has  non  judicans.  Some- 
thing can  be  said  for  all  these  renderings.     The 


188   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

context  must  decide.1  If  one  considers  the  use  of 
the  verb  in  James  i :  6 ;  2:4,  probably  the  idea  of 
decision  is  the  true  one  here.  It  is  whole-hearted 
conviction,  positiveness  in  adherence  to  the  truth, 
single-minded  devotion  rather  than  the  wavering  in- 
decision of  the  false  wisdom.  It  is  Principal  For- 
syth's idea  of  "Positive  Preaching"  for  the  modern 
mind. 

It  is  finally  "without  hypocrisy"  (awnoKpiTog)  ,2 
"straightforward"  (Moffatt).  Here  there  is  no  am- 
biguity as  to  the  import  of  the  word.  It  is  not  the 
hypocritical  wisdom  of  earth,  the  spurious  invita- 
tion, but  the  genuine  article.  It  is  sincere,  "without 
show  or  pretence"  (Mayor).  The  word  is  used  of 
love  (Rom.  12:9;  2  Cor.  6:  6),  of  faith  (1  Tim.  1:5), 
of  brotherly  love  (1  Pet.  1 :  22).  The  idea  here  con- 
cerns our  relations  with  men  as  the  preceding  ad- 
jective outlined  our  attitude  toward  God  (Hort). 
This  wisdom  has  the  ring  of  pure  gold  and  passes  at 
par  value  with  all  men.  Surely  such  wisdom  as  this 
will  always  be  in  demand  by  modern  men  who  love 
reality  and  hate  pretence. 

6.   The  Harvest  of  Righteousness.    3:  18. 

In  this  verse  James  gathers  up  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  all  that  he  has  had  to  say  so  far.    He  has 


1  The  verb  Sia-KpLvo/iai  means  to  distinguish,  but  the  resultant 
idea  is  very  variable.  Moulton  and  Milligan  (Vocabulary,  p.  9) 
quote  O.  G.  I.  S.  509.  8  (ii/A.  D.),  ovAe  tovto  to  pkpoq  KarkXinov  afii- 
anpiTov. 

2  The  Vulgate  has  sine  simulations  Of  course,  vn6-Kpiroq  is  from 
vno-Kpivopai,  like  vTro-Kp/rrfc,  and  is  used  of  the  actor's  mask  and  then 
for  mere  imitation,  hypocrisy. 


THE  TRUE  WISE  MAN  189 

just  spoken  of  peace  and  of  good  fruits.  He  has, 
been  insisting  on  righteous  deeds  and  not  mere 
words,  upon  a  live  faith,  not  a  dead  creed.  "And 
the  fruit  of  righteousness  is  sown  in  peace  for  them 
that  make  peace"  (icapndg  di  dutaioovvrjs  kv  sip^vy  oirei- 
gerai  rolg  noiovoiv  elpfjvrjv).  "And  the  peacemakers 
who  sow  in  peace  reap  righteousness"  (Moffatt). 
The  fruit  is  righteousness  (genitive  of  apposition). 
The  figure  of  sowing  is  common  enough.  It  is  the 
slow  process  of  soil,  seed,  plant,  blossom,  fruit,  har- 
vest. This  is  the  life  of  piety  (wisdom)  that  James 
lays  before  his  readers.  The  phraseology  occurs 
elsewhere  (Psa.  1:3).  Thus  Prov.  11:30:  "The 
fruit  of  the  righteous  is  a  tree  of  life"  (LXX  has  etc 
Kapnov  diKcuoovvrjc;) .  So  in  Amos  6 :  2  we  have  "fruit 
of  righteousness."  In  the  New  Testament  note 
Phil.  1:  11,  "filled  with  the  fruit  of  righteousness," 
and  Heb.  12:  11,  "peaceable  fruit"  (leapndv  elpqvtitov) . 
There  is  a  difficulty  here  in  the  fact  that  the  "fruit" 
instead  of  the  "seed"  is  "sown"  (oTTsiperac) .  But 
such  a  prolepsis  of  thought  is  not  unknown,  as  in 
Psa.  97 :  11 :  "Light  is  sown  for  the  righteous."  The 
sower  sows  in  peace  and  the  harvest  of  righteousness 
is  gathered  in  peace.  The  peace-maker  has  the 
rainbow  promise  of  his  harvest  in  due  time  if  he 
faint  not  nor  grow  weary.  "They  who  make  peace 
show  likeness  to  God,  the  great  maker  of  peace" 
(Hort). 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Outer  and  the  Inner  Life.     4:1-12 

Oesterley  thinks  it  inconceivable  that  these  verses 
could  have  been  addressed  to  Jewish  churches  at  an 
early  date,  while  they  were  still  in  the  fresh  glow  of 
the  new  faith  in  Christ.  He  thinks  that  "these 
verses  reveal  an  appalling  state  of  moral  depravity 
in  these  Diaspora  congregations;  strife,  self- 
indulgence,  lust,  murder,  covetousness,  adultery, 
envy,  pride  and  slander  are  rife;  the  conception  of 
the  nature  of  prayer  seems  to  have  been  altogether 
wrong  among  these  people,  and  they  appear  to  be 
given  over  wholly  to  a  life  of  pleasure.  It  must 
have  been  terrible  for  the  writer  to  contemplate 
such  a  sink  of  iniquity."  Yes,  but  James  does  not 
say  that  all  the  Christians  were  guilty  of  these  sins. 
It  was  bad  enough  in  all  conscience  without  over- 
stating the  situation.  Besides,  we  have  the  state  of 
affairs  in  the  church  at  Corinth  to  guide  us  as  to  the 
possibility  of  sins  in  a  young  church,  and  the  state  of 
affairs  among  the  Galatian  churches  is  not  much 
better  (cf.  "so  soon  departing").  Covetousness  and 
strife  early  appear  in  the  church  in  Jerusalem,  as  we 
know  from  Acts  4  and  5.  Reaction  comes  only  too 
swiftly,  as  is  noted  after  all  great  revivals,  for  in- 
stance, the  years  following  the  late  Welsh  revival. 
Within  a  year  or  two  after  Paul  left  Thessalonica 
discipline  is  sorely  needed  in  the  church  there,  as  we 

180 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  191 

know  from  1  and  2  Thessalonians.  The  Gentile 
world  was  given  over  to  immorality  of  all  sorts,  and 
Judaism  was  deadened  with  formalism.  It  was  no 
easy  task  to  make  real  spiritual  life  grow  in  such  an 
atmosphere.  And  yet  this  is  precisely  what  Chris- 
tianity undertakes  to  do.  Jesus  came  that  men 
might  have  life,  spiritual  vitality,  and  might  have  it 
abundantly  (John  10:  10;  20:31).  James  is  chiefly 
concerned  that  his  readers  may  share  in  this  new 
life  in  Christ  and  may  show  the  inner  reality  by  the 
outward  expression.  He  never  gets  away  from  this 
central  conception  of  Christianity.  The  appearance 
of  sin  in  hideous  forms  among  the  followers  of 
Jesus  stirs  James  to  intense  indignation.  Mayor 
notes  that  the  severity  of  tone  in  this  paragraph 
is  accented  by  the  absence  of  "brothers"  (&6eX<f>oi). 

1.   The  Origin  of  War.    4:  1,  2a. 

James  makes  frequent  use  of  the  rhetorical  ques- 
tion as  here  when  he  boldly  demands  the  origin  of 
the  strife  among  the  churches  of  the  Diaspora: 
"Whence  come  wars  and  whence  come  fightings 
among  you?"  (nodev  iroXefioi  Kai  rrodev  pdxcu  tv  v/twv;). 
This  use  of  question  gives  life  to  style  and  is  the 
mark  of  a  good  teacher.  Note  also  the  repetition  of 
"whence"  (rrodev)  which  gives  added  piquancy.  In 
the  Epistle  of  Clement  of  Rome  (xlvi)  to  the  Church 
at  Corinth  (about  A.  D.  97)  he  seems  to  refer  to  this 
passage  in  James  where  he  asks:  "Wherefore  are 
these  strifes  and  wraths,  and  factions  and  divisions, 
and  war  among  you?"  At  bottom  ecclesiastical 
strife  does  not  differ  in  origin  and  spirit  from  wars 


I 


192   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

between  nations.  Sometimes  there  is  even  more 
bitterness.  Certainly,  no  wars  have  been  fiercer 
than  the  so-called  "religious"  wars  of  history.  It 
does  seem  like  irony  that  the  Great  War  should 
have  come  after  so  many  years  of  growth  of  the 
peace  sentiment  in  the  world.  But  Christianity  is 
on  the  side  of  peace  and  Christians  must  keep  up 
the  fight  for  peace.  The  spirit  of  Jesus  is  in  the 
Lake  Mohonk  Peace  Conference.  Jesus  left  a  legacy 
of  peace  for  individuals  and  for  nations  who  win  it 
("My  peace  I  give  unto  you,"  John  14:  27).  There 
has  appeared  one  evidence  of  a  better  public  opinion 
in  the  fact  that  in  the  Great  War  now  raging  over 
Europe  and  Asia  each  nation  has  sought  to  justify 
itself  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  as  not  the  aggressor, 
but  on  the  defensive.  This  apology  is  some  conces- 
sion, at  least,  to  enlightened  Christian  sentiment, 
which  will  ultimately  banish  war  from  the  earth 
along  with  slavery,  alcohol,  the  brothel,  and  other 
agencies  of  the  devil.  Meanwhile,  James  occupies 
the  standpoint  of  the  Christian  optimist  who  fights 
for  the  highest  and  the  best.  So  Simon  Peter:  "Be- 
loved, I  beseech  you  as  sojourners  and  pilgrims,  to 
abstain  from  fleshly  lusts,  which  war  against  the 
soul"  (1  Pet.  2:11).  We  need  not  press  the  dis- 
tinction between  "wars"  (ndXefioi)  and  "fightings" 
(fidxai),  though  the  first  means  a  state  of  war  and 
the  lasting  resentment  connected  with  it,  while  the 
second  refers  to  battles  or  outbursts  of  passion 
which  occur  during  a  state  of  war.  James  does  not, 
of  course,  here  refer  to  wars  between  nations,  but  to 
the  factional  bickerings  in  the  churches,  the  personal 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  193 

wrangles  that  embitter  church  life.     "Among  you" 
(ev  vfuv) ,  he  adds,  to  drive  the  question  home. 

James  answers  his  first  question  by  a  second. 
"Come  they  not  hence,  even  of  your  pleasures  that 
war  in  your  members?"  (ovk  kvrevdev,  en  t£>v  ydovtiv 
bfiuv  tg>v  arpaTsvofjbivMv  ev  roig  fieXeocv  vfiojv;).  James 
sees  an  intimate  connection  between  strife  and 
laxity  of  life.  The  case  of  the  church  at  Corinth  is 
a  point  where  factional  divisions  and  gross  immoral- 
ity flourished  together.  Plato  (Phaedo  66)  says: 
"Wars  and  factions,  and  fightings  have  no  other 
source  than  the  body  and  its  lusts.  For  it  is  for  the 
getting  of  wealth  that  all  our  wars  arise,  and  we  are 
compelled  to  get  wealth  because  of  our  body,  to 
whose  service  we  are  slaves."  James  and  Plato 
agree  therefore  in  finding  the  origin  of  war  in  the 
lusts  of  the  body,  but  they  differ  in  their  opinion  as 
to  how  to  treat  the  body.  Plato  exhorts  neglect  and 
scorn  of  the  body,  while  James  urges  the  victory 
of  the  spirit  over  the  body.  "Plato  has  no  idea  that 
the  body  may  be  sanctified  here  and  glorified  here- 
after; he  regards  it  simply  as  a  necessary  evil,  which 
may  be  minimized  by  watchfulness,  but  which  can 
in  no  way  be  turned  into  a  blessing"  (Plummer). 
The  source  of  all  war  (private  and  public)  is  "the 
pleasures  {f\dov(bv)  that  war  (orpaTevofievuv)  in  your 
members."1  The  same  word  for  "war"  between  the 
fleshly  desires  occurs  in  1  Pet.  2:  n  and  in  Rom. 
7 :  23  Paul  uses  it  (avTiaTparevo/iEvov)  of  the  conflict 


1  Philo  (M.  2,  p.  205)  traces  all  the  tragic  wars  of  Greeks  and 
Barbarians  to  one  source  {arrb  pa?  miyf/g),  erudv/uiag  fy  xpT/fiaruv  fj  66§ti( 


194   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

between  the  two  laws  of  his  nature.  The  word  for 
"pleasure"  does  not  necessarily  mean  sensual  pleas- 
ures (cf.  emdvfiiai) ,  but  what  is  sweet  (^vg,  rjdovrj) 
and  leads  to  sinful  strife  (like  ambition,  love  of 
money  or  of  power) .  In  Titus  3 :  3  Paul  combines 
both  words,  "lusts  and  pleasures"  (emdvpiaig  Kai 
■tjdovalt;)  .*  "The  potential  pleasure  seated  in  each 
member  constitutes  a  hostile  force,  a  foe  lying  in 
ambush  against  which  we  have  continually  to  be 
on  our  guard"  (Mayor).  In  the  Letter  of  Aristeas 
(cf.  Swete,  Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament  in 
Greek,  p.  567)  the  question  is  asked:  "Why  do  not 
the  majority  of  men  receive  virtue?"  The  answer  is 
given:  "Because  all  are  naturally  without  self-con- 
trol and  are  bent  on  pleasures"  (tnl  ra$  r}dov&q).  It 
must  be  said  that  the  philosophy  of  Hedonism  in 
this  sense  of  the  term  has  a  powerful  hold  upon  the 
average  man.  Buddha  said  trouble  came  of  desire. 
It  is  not  an  inspiring  picture  that  James  here 
draws,  and  one  would  like  to  believe  that  he  has  a 
wider  outlook  than  the  Christian  community  when 
he  names  this  bill  of  particulars.  "Ye  lust,  and 
have  not:  ye  kill,  and  covet,  and  cannot  obtain: 
ye  fight  and  war"  (imdvuelade,  Kai  ovk  e^ere-  <povevere 
Kai   ^rjXovre,   Kai  ov  dvvaode  kmrvxelv    fidx^ode  Kai   iroXe- 

fielTs).  Here  Westcott  and  Hort  make  a  full  stop  in 
their  text,  and  this  is  probably  correct.  The  pres- 
ence of  "kill"  ((povevere)  before  "covet"  (fyXovre) 
gives  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  the  commentators 
who  find  it  an  anti-climax.     Mayor  urges  the  sub- 

1  See  both  terms  also  in  4  Mace.  5 :  22,  bore  naoov  t<jv  i)6ovuv  nat 
iiudvfiiuv  Kparriv.     See  al60  Philo,  M.   I,  p.  445,  i)fiovdl  #  intdvftiai. 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  195 

stitution  of  "envy"  (<pdoveZre)  for  "kill,"  but  there  is 
no  manuscript  authority  for  it  and  the  difficulty  is 
not  really  mended.  Hort  has  the  most  probable 
solution  by  this  punctuation:  "Ye  covet,  and  have 
not:  ye  commit  murder.  And  ye  envy,  and  cannot 
attain:  ye  fight  and  war."  At  any  rate,  the  humil- 
iating fact  remains  that  lust,  covetousness,  envy, 
fighting,  murder,  are  here  charged  against  some  of 
the  readers  of  the  Epistle.  It  looks  as  if  some  of 
them  held  to  the  view  that  they  were  entitled  to  all 
that  they  could  grasp,  that  Providence  was  on  the 
side  of  the  heaviest  battalions,  that  might  consti- 
tuted right.  "Lust"  {emdvueire)  is  here  used  in  the 
most  general  sense,  like  "covet."  The  failure  to  find 
satisfaction  (/e<u  ovk  exere)  leads  to  jealousy  (fyXovre), 
fighting  (fidxsads),  war  (noXefieire) ,  and  even  murder 
((f>ovevsrs) .  Covetousness  leads  to  fights  with  indi- 
viduals and  nations.  Lust  in  the  narrow  sense  and 
murder  are  common  partners.  The  fight  is  on  in 
every  man's  life  against  all  that  is  low  and  mean. 
He  can  keep  a  pure  life  only  by  living  the  victorious 
life.  There  is  also  the  common  oppression  of  the 
poor  by  the  greedy  and  grasping  in  all  the  ages. 
"No  man  shall  take  the  mill  or  the  upper  millstone 
to  pledge:  for  he  taketh  a  man's  life  to  pledge" 
(Deut.  24:6).  So  Sirach  (34:21^)  says:  "He  that 
taketh  away  his  neighbour's  living  slayeth  him;  and 
he  that  defraudeth  the  labourer  of  his  hire  is  a 
blood-shedder."  The  opposite  of  all  this  pitiful 
business  is  seen  in  the  nobility  of  love  as  portrayed 
in  1  Cor.  13. 


196  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

2.  Asking  Amiss.     4:  2b,  3. 

The  latter  part  of  verse  2  is  a  puzzle  to  the  com- 
mentators: "Ye  have  not,  because  ye  ask  not"  (ovk 

eX^re,  Sect  rd  \ifi  alrelodai  v^iag).  Oesterley  (follow- 
ing Carr)  thinks  that  we  have  a  string  of  poetical 
quotations  ("stromateis"),  "not  very  skilfully  strung 
together."  Mayor  takes  it  as  a  mere  repetition  of 
"ye  lust  and  have  not,"  and  says  "it  is  not  a  further 
step."  But  surely  James  does  not  mean  to  say  that 
the  one  reason  why  the  impulses  to  lust,  covetous- 
ness,  envy,  fighting,  and  murder  are  not  gratified  is 
because  men  do  not  pray  so  as  to  carry  their  point 
with  God  and  man!  That  were  to  make  prayer  a 
travesty  and  God  a  puppet  of  man's  evil  desires. 
I  must  believe  that  this  sentence  belongs  to  verse  3 
in  thought  and  should  be  so  punctuated.  We  must 
always  bear  in  mind  that  the  original  Greek  text 
had  no  punctuation  and  that  we  are  at  liberty  to 
punctuate  de  novo  if  the  context  demands  it.  There 
is,  no  doubt,  a  backward  look  in  "ye  have  not," 
verse  2,  but  in  reality  James  here  starts  a  new  topic, 
that  of  prayer.  There  is  a  delicate  hint  in  the  use 
of  the  middle  voice  (alrelodai)  here  that  they  had  not 
put  their  hearts  into  their  prayers.1    "Ye  ask"  with 


1  See  Robertson,  Grammar  of  the  Greek  N.  T.  in  the  Light  of 
Historical  Research,  p.  805,  for  discussion  of  the  distinction  between 
aircj  and  alnvfuu.  The  Schol.  Aristoph.  15.  6  says:  rd  fiev  alru  to 
an'Auq  tyro,  to  (Se  alrov/xai  //d?'  ineoiae.  That  is  it  exactly.  In  prayer 
one  must  seek  with  passion.  The  Syro- Phoenician  woman,  pleading 
for  her  daughter,  said:  "Lord,  help  me"  (Matt.  15:25).  So  Herod 
Antipas  said  to  Salome:  Alrr/adv  /xe  6  iav  dtXric,  while  she  said  to  her 
mother  in  eagerness  and  perplexity:  Ti  alr^ou/iai.  Since  the  middle 
denotes  more  earnestness,  it  is  quite  frequent  in  the  papyri. 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  197 

the  mere  form  of  words  (ahelTe)  and  naturally  "re- 
ceive not"  (ov  Xafiftdvere) ,  "because  ye  ask  amiss" 
(Sioti  KdKCog  ahelode),  "wrongly"  (nanus),  as  in  John 
18:23.  Their  prayers  are  vitiated  by  the  evil 
purpose,  "that  ye  may  spend  it  in  your  pleasures" 

(tva  ev  ralg  jjdovalg  daTravrjarjTe) ,  "with  the  wicked  in- 
tention of  spending  it  on  your  pleasures"  (Moffatt). 
Even  Epictetus  (Cod.  Vat.  3)  says  of  the  gods: 
"And  then  shall  they  give  to  thee  the  good  things 
when  thou  rejoicest  not  in  pleasure  (Vovfl)>  but  in 
virtue."  How  often  we  all  miss  it  in  prayer!  We 
ask  for  what  we  should  not,  staking  our  judgment 
against  that  of  God.  We  ask  with  a  spirit  of  rebel- 
lion and  not  of  subjection  to  the  will  of  God  (4:  7). 
We  ask,  not  for  the  glory  of  God  nor  for  the  blessing 
of  others,  but  for  the  gratification  of  our  own  selfish 
pleasures  (ijdovat)  even  when  the  things  asked  for 
are  good  in  themselves.  We  may  even  get  to  the 
point  where  we  dare  ask  God  for  what  is  not  good  in 
itself.  "No  asking  from  God  which  takes  place  in  a 
wrong  frame  of  mind  towards  him  or  towards  the 
object  asked  has  anything  to  do  with  prayer.  It  is 
an  evil  asking"  (Hort).  God  cannot  be  made  a  pri- 
vate asset  to  further  our  own  selfish  interests  or  to 
serve  the  wicked  world  (cf.  1  Tim.  6:4f.).  "If  we 
ask  (ahovixeda)  anything  according  to  his  will,  he 
heareth  us"  (1  John  5:  14).  The  word  in  James  for 
"spend"  (danavdw)  means  to  "consume,"  to  "waste," 
to  "dissipate."  It  is  used  of  the  Prodigal  Son  who 
"spent  all"  (Luke  15:  14).  Prayer  is  probably  the 
poorest  of  all  our  spiritual  exercises.  It  should  be 
the  most  constant  and  the  most  helpful.     It  calls 


198   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

for  searching  of  heart  and  all  sincerity.  It  is  right 
and  proper  to  pray  for  our  daily  bread  (Matt.  6 :  n), 
provided  we  do  our  daily  tasks  so  as  to  earn  our 
daily  bread.  God  does  not  mean  prayer  to  be  a 
substitute  for  work.  Trust  is  not  anxiety  (Matt. 
6:31),  but  it  is  also  not  presumption.  The  use  of 
the  "name"  of  Jesus  does  not  cause  the  door  of 
grace  to  spring  open  for  us  unless  we  put  ourselves 
under  the  rule  of  Jesus. 

3.  The  Friendship  of  the  World.    4:4. 

The  words  "adulterers  and"  of  the  Authorized 
Version  are  not  genuine,  occurring  in  late  documents. 
The  sudden  outburst,  "ye  adulteresses"  (fioixaXiSeg) , 
"wanton  creatures"  (Moffatt),  leaves  one  in  doubt 
whether  James  is  singling  out  one  special  form  of 
sin  so  common  in  the  world  (Hort)  or  is  using  the 
word  in  the  figurative  sense  (Mayor)  so  frequent  in 
the  Old  Testament  for  the  sin  of  idolatry  (cf.  Psa. 
73:  27;  Ezek.  23:  27;  Hos.  2:2;  Isa.  57).  Jesus  de- 
nounced his  age  in  Palestine  as  "an  evil  and  adul- 
terous generation"  (Matt.  12:39).  It  will  make 
good  sense  with  either  interpretation.  Oesterley  ar- 
gues that  "the  depraved  state  of  morals  to  which 
the  whole  section  bears  witness  must,  in  part  at 
least,  have  been  due  to  the  wickedness  and  co- 
operation of  the  women,  so  that  there  is  nothing 
strange  in  their  being  specifically  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  that  form  of  sin  with  which  they  would 
be  more  particularly  associated."  Such  a  sin  ought 
not,  to  be  sure,  to  be  found  among  Christians,  but 
1  Cor.  5  shows  how  early  it  appeared  in  the  church 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  199 

in  Corinth,  a  peculiarly  licentious  city.  The  pres- 
sure of  the  easy-going,  laissez-faire  life  of  the  world 
on  this  point  is  hard  upon  true  Christians  in  all  the 
ages.  It  is  not  merely  that  a  double  standard  of 
morals  is  claimed  by  men  of  the  world  for  them- 
selves, though  denied  to  their  own  wives,  but  they 
are  aggressive  against  the  virtue  of  the  daughters 
and  wives  of  other  men.  This  age-long  evil  is  con- 
doned even  by  women  of  the  world  who  are  clean 
themselves  in  a  blind  surrender  to  the  fact  that 
men  seem  to  be  hopelessly  evil  and  they  let  it  go 
at  that.  If  the  word  "adulteresses"  is  here  taken 
literally,  as  is  probable,  James  makes  a  bold  appeal 
to  women  of  pleasure  (rjdovj)  to  cease  from  sin  and 
to  let  God  rule  in  their  lives.  It  is  surely  worth 
while  to  make  such  an  appeal  even  to  those  who 
seem  to  be  hopelessly  abandoned  to  the  evil  world. 
But  it  is  preeminently  worth  while  to  seek  to  warn 
and  to  prevent  from  ruin  the  young  men  and  women 
of  our  day.  The  facts  about  this  "Ancient  Evil" 
are  presented  with  fearful  plainness  and  power  by 
Miss  Jane  Addams  from  the  standpoint  of  the  "New 
Conscience."  At  last  American  cities  are  seeing  the 
folly  of  calm  acquiescence  in  the  presence  of  this 
monster  evil  which  should  be  driven  out  with  lash 
and  wjiip.  "Know  ye  not"  (ova  oldare),  says  James 
with  neat,  "that  the  friendship  of  the  world  is 
enmity  with  God?"  (on  t\  <piXia  rov  koojxov  l%^9a  T("-' 
deov  kariv ;)  Pastors  sometimes  find  men  and  women 
living  in  adultery  and  complacently  keeping  up  their 
church  connections.  James  means  to  show  the  utter 
inconsistency  of  such  a  course  of  conduct. 


200   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

But,  if  "adulteresses"  is  taken  in  the  figurative 
sense,  there  is  still  the  friendship  of  the  world  that 
is  enmity  with  God.  The  friendship  of  the  world  is 
preferred  to  that  of  God.  World  (noa/iog)1  here  is 
riot  the  earth  with  all  its  beauty  and  charm  (God's 
world  made  by  him.  Cf.  Psa.  19),  nor  mankind,  for 
whom  Christ  died  (John  3:  16),  but  that  world  of 
selfish  pleasure  and  sin  out  of  which  Christ  called 
his  disciples  and  which  in  turn  hated  them  as  it 
hated  Christ  (John  15:  i8ff.)-  This  "world"  will 
only  love  ((piXecS)  as  a  familiar  friend  (faAog)  those 
who  cater  to  its  ideals  and  standards,  who  condone 
its  slackness  of  morals  and  neglect  of  God.  This 
cleavage  between  the  wayward  wicked  world  and 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  a  fact  of  the  utmost  signifi- 
cance (John  17:  isff.).  The  Christian  has  to  learn 
the  secret  of  living  in  such  a  worldly  atmosphere 
without  being  contaminated  by  it.  One  does  not 
wish  to  be  considered  a  religious  crank  and  queer. 
He  desires  to  have  influence  with  his  friends  and 
business  acquaintances.  But  one  cannot  be  a  "hale 
fellow  well-met"  in  sin  and  every  form  of  worldly 
indulgence  and  retain  his  influence  for  God.  The 
time  comes  when  a  choice  must  be  made  between 
friends,  for  that  sort  of  life  in  the  world  becomes 
incompatible  with  friendship  with  God.     One  must 

1  The  k.6o/iuq  was  originally  "order."  The  order  and  beauty  of 
God's  world  are  attractive  to  the  right-minded  man  (Rom.  1:20). 
It  is  applied  to  the  people  of  the  earth  (John  1 :  29)  and  then  to  the 
believers  who  are  alienated  from  God  (John  8:23;  12:31),  this  world 
which  the  devil  rules  (John  14:30;  1  John  5:19),  whose  spirit  is 
hostile  to  that  of  Christ  (1  Cor.  2:12),  against  which  James  has 
already  (1:25)  warned  his  readers. 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  201 

make  his  choice.  "If  any  man  love  the  world,  the 
love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him"  (1  John  2:  15). 
One  cannot  run  with  the  hare  and  the  hounds.  The 
devil  makes  no  objection  to  such  a  double  life  of 
hypocrisy,  but  God  does.  God  is  gracious  and  for- 
giving to  sinners  who  repent,  but  has  no  mercy  for 
presumptuous  sinners  who  defy  his  kindness  and 
keep  in  touch  with  the  devil  and  his  circles  of  evil. 
The  word  "enmity"  (e%#pa)  is  the  term  for  personal 
hostility.  Preference  for  sin  constitutes  a  personal 
offense  towards  God,  who  can  have  no  rival  any  more 
than  a  true  wife  can  suffer  a  rival  in  the  affections  of 
her  husband.  ' 'The  mind  of  the  flesh  is  enmity  against 
God"  (Rom.  8:7).x  One  must  make  his  choice. 
"No  man  can  serve  two  masters:  for  either  he  will 
hate  the  one,  and  love  the  other;  or  else  he  will  hold 
to  one,  and  despise  the  other.  Ye  cannot  serve  God 
and  mammon"  (Matt.  6:24).  Plummer  argues 
clearly  that  James  does  not  condemn  the  scientist's 
love  of  nature  nor  the  sociologist's  enthusiasm  which, 
forsooth,  is  not  always  shared  in  by  preachers  as 
much  as  is  desirable.  Preaching  often  is  so  given  to 
denunciation  of  sin  that  it  fails  to  exalt  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  right  sort  of  manhood.  It  thus  repels 
the  very  men  that  it  wishes  to  attract.  So  far  from 
that,  love  for  man  is  one  of  the  main  proofs  of  love 
for  God  (1  John  4:  20).  The  passion  for  the  souls 
of  men  is  the  true  mark  of  the  redeemed.  Paul 
(Titus  2:12)  urges  that  "denying  ungodliness  and 
worldly   lusts"    (rag  Ko<jfwca<;  kmdvpicu),    "we   should 

1  ex&pa  e'ic  deov.    The  objective  genitive  in  James  4:4,  Zx&Pa  T°v 
deov,  has  the  same  import. 


202   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

live  godly  in  this  present  world"  (evoefius  ^a^fxev  ev 
tw  vvv  aiuvi)  or  "age"  more  exactly.  "Whosoever 
therefore  would  be  a  friend  of  the  world  maketh 
himself  an  enemy  of  God"  (dg  kdv  ovv  PovXrjdq  <pilog 
elvai  tov  tcoofiov,  e^pof  tov  deov  Kadio-arai),  "who- 
ever, then,  chooses  to  be  the  world's  friend  turns 
enemy  to  God"  (Moffatt).  One  makes  his  choice 
({iovXrjd^)  as  he  is  able  to  do  by  the  exercise  of  his 
own  will  and  purpose  (fiwX^).  But,  once  and  finally 
made,  he  renders  himself  {Kadiararai)  ipso  facto  an 
enemy  to  God  (expos'  T0V  deov).  There  is  no  help 
for  it  so  long  as  God  is  really  the  God  of  purity  and 
righteousness.  Josephus  calls  Poppaea,  the  infamous 
wife  of  Nero  and  proselyte  to  Judaism,  a  worshipper 
of  God  {deooeftrjs,  Ant.  xx.  8.  n),  but  surely  such 
"worship"  was  not  acceptable  to  God.  James  (2  :  23) 
has  termed  Abraham  "the  friend  of  God"  (0<Aof 
deov),  but  he  entered  into  that  relation  to  God  on 
terms  of  obedience  to  God  as  Lord.  On  no  other 
terms  is  friendship  with  God  possible.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  one's  feelings,  but  of  the  actual  state 
of  affairs.  "To  be  on  terms  of  friendship  with  the 
world  involves  living  on  terms  of  enmity  with  God" 
(Hort).  The  word  "friendship"  ((piXia)  does  not 
itself  occur  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament,  though 
it  is  found  several  times  in  Proverbs,  but  the  words 
"friend"  (<f>iXog)  and  to  "love  as  a  friend"  (<f>iXea) 
are  common  enough.  Gildersleeve  (Justin  Martyr, 
p.  135)  notes  that  Xenophon  uses  the  two  verbs  for 
love  (dya-rrdcj  and  <piXe<o)  as  synonymous.1    But  in  the 

1  He  also  remarks  that  ayan&u  is  a  colder  word  than  0</*iw  and  is 
more  common  in  the  N.  T.  to  avoid  the  idea  of  kissing  in  Qitea. 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  203 

New  Testament  there  is  a  distinction  drawn  in 
John  21:  15-17.  The  one  (ayarmw)  is  the  "deeper" 
and  richer  word,  while  the  other  ((piXeo)  is  the  "more 
human"  (Moulton  and  Milligan,  Vocabulary  of  the 
N.  T.,  p.  2).  Certainly,  one  has  no  right  to  claim 
intimate  family  relationship  with  God  as  his  friend 
while  at  the  same  time  living  in  adulterous  relations 
with  the  sinful  world  that  hates  God.  The  "seduc- 
tions of  the  world"  (Plummer)  are  very  real  and 
very  many,  but  surrender  to  them  is  not  consonant 
with  the  fellowship  of  God.  The  law  of  spiritual  life 
is  not  always  understood.  Some  men  wonder  why 
they  are  not  spiritually  happy,  why  they  do  not 
enjoy  religion.  They  are  living  in  sin  with  the  world 
and  yet  marvel  at  their  lack  of  communion  with 
God. 

4.  The  Yearning  of  the  Spirit  for  Us.    4 :  5f . 

"Or  think  ye?"  (rj  6oK,etre),  says  James,  as  the 
alternative.  Either  the  friendship  of  the  world  is 
enmity  with  God  or  you  think  that  "the  Scripture 
speaketh  in  vain"  {kcvuh;  fj  ypacprj  Acy«).  "What,  do 
you  consider  this  an  idle  word  of  Scripture?"  (Mof- 
fatt).  This  rhetorical  question  expects  an  indignant 
denial.  Therefore  the  argument  holds  that  the 
friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God.  But 
what  is  the  Scripture?  Is  it  only  the  passage  in 
verse  6  that  is  referred  to?  The  punctuation  of  the 
Revised  Version  allows  that.     We  have  two  ques- 


Epictetus  uses  ayandu  in  the  classical  sense  of  "be  content,"  but 
once  (Stob.  9)  "in  a  sense  approaching  that  of  N.  T.  love"  (Sharp, 
Epictetus,  and  the  N.  T.,  p.  126). 


204   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

tions  before  the  one  quotation.  But  it  may  be  that 
the  general  sense  of  Scripture  is  meant  by  the  first 
question.  Usually  "the  Scripture"  occurs  before  a 
direct  quotation,  as  in  Rom.  4:3.  Some  would  take 
the  rest  of  verse  5  after  the  first  question  as  a  quota- 
tion, although  no  such  quotation  occurs  in  the  Old 
Testament.  The  general  sense  appears  in  various 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  in  Exod.  20:5:  "I 
am  the  Lord  thy  God,  a  jealous  God"  (dedg  fyfayrrjs). 
Cf.  Isa.  63:  8-16;  Zech.  8:2.  Oesterley  even  sees  a 
direct  allusion  to  Gal.  5:  17,  21;  Rom.  8:6,  8;  1  Cor. 
3:16,  and  an  argument  for  the  late  date  of  the 
Epistle  of  James.  But  this  is  forcing  the  matter 
rather  stiffly.  The  New  Testament  writers  seem  to 
have  used  chains  of  quotations  (catenae),  as,  for  in- 
stance, in  Rom.  3:  10-18.  Paul  probably  makes  a 
free  paraphrase  of  Isa.  64 : 4  in  1  Cor.  2 : 9  and  of 
Isa.  60:  1,  2  in  Eph.  5:  14.  Either  this  is  what  is 
done  here  or  James  is  already  referring  to  verse  6, 
a  quotation  from  Prov.  3:34. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  take  the  second  sentence  in 
verse  5  as  a  question.  We  may  follow  the  margin: 
"The  spirit  which  he  made  to  dwell  in  us  he  yearneth 
for  even  unto  jealous  envy,"  or  "with  jealousy  doth 
He  yearn  after  the  spirit  which  he  caused  to  dwell 
in  us"  (Hort),  or  "He  yearns  jealously  for  the  spirit 
he  set  within  us"  (Moffatt),  (-n-pd^  <pdovov  kmnodei  to 
TTvevfia  0  KdTtiKioev  kv  rjfilv).  In  one  case  (the  ques- 
tion) we  take  the  Spirit  as  subject  and  as  the  Holy 
Spirit.  In  the  other  case  (the  affirmation)  we  take 
spirit  as  object  and  as  our  redeemed  spirit  planted 
in  us  by  God  (cf.  Rom.  8:  4-16  for  both  ideas).    In 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  205 

either  rendering  it  is  the  Spirit  of  God  (cf .  Rom.  8 :  9) 
who  dwells  in  us  and  helps  us  strive  against  the  evil 
forces  of  the  world  in  our  own  hearts.  God  has  sent 
forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into  our  hearts  (Gal.  4:6), 
who  helps  us  in  the  fight  with  the  flesh  (Gal.  5:16- 
26).  It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Indwelling  Spirit  of 
God,  a  very  precious  doctrine  in  the  New  Testament 
(John  7:39;  16:7;  Rom.  8:11;  1  Cor.  3:16;  Gal. 
4:6;  Eph.  3:17;  4:30).  The  Spirit  of  God  has 
made  his  home  (tcartiKicrev ,  from  olnog  and  Kara)  in 
us.  This  is  our  glory  and  our  hope.  The  word  for 
"yearn"  (kmno&el)  is  a  very  strong  one.  It  is  the 
verb  in  Psa.  42 :  1  (LXX) :  "As  the  hart  panteth 
(kmnodti)  after  the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  (iniTro- 
del)  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God."  Peter  uses  it  of 
the  longing  of  new-born  babes  after  the  sincere  milk 
of  the  word  (1  Pet.  2:2).  So  Paul  yearns  after 
(tTTinodcd)  the  Philippians  (Phil.  1:8).  There  are 
many  interpretations  and  many  ways  of  punctuating 
the  words  "unto  jealous  envy"  or  "with  jealousy" 
(npdg  (pdovov) .  We  may  not  tarry  over  them.  Prob- 
ably the  idea  is  that  the  Holy  Spirit  covets  our 
souls.  He  does  not  wish  the  devil  to  have  us. 
Usually  this  word  for  "jealous  envy"  ((pdovog)  has 
a  bad  sense,  but  the  context  here  makes  it  clear. 
God  is  a  jealous  God.  He  can  brook  no  rival  in 
our  hearts.  God  wishes  the  whole  of  our  hearts' 
love,  not  just  a  part.  He  claims  the  rights  of  a 
loving  husband  to  all  our  hearts'  devotion.  In  our 
hours  of  doubt  and  weakness  "the  Spirit  himself 
maketh  intercession  for  us  with  groanings  which 
cannot  be  uttered"  (Rom.  8:  26,  vrrepevrvyxdvei  arev- 


206   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

ayiwlg  dXaX^roig).  We  may  thank  God  that  he  is  a 
jealous  God  for  his  people  Israel.  He  broods  over 
his  children  with  a  mother's  love  and  longing  for 
their  growth  and  development. 

"But  he  giveth  more  grace"  (iiei&va  6e  dlduoiv 
X<*Plv),  literally  "greater  grace,"  "yet  he  gives  grace 
more  and  more"  (Moffatt).  The  words  "giveth 
grace"  (didaoiv  x^9lv)  come  from  the  quotation  fol- 
lowing (Prov.  3:34).  The  effect  of  this  jealous 
affection  on  God's  part  is  not  to  abandon  us,  but  to 
heap  more  and  richer  favors  upon  us.  God  demands 
of  us  whole-hearted  surrender  and  service,  but  he 
pours  out  the  wealth  of  his  love  upon  us.  "God 
resisteth  the  proud,  but  giveth  grace  to  the  hum- 
ble" (6  Oedg  vnep7](pdvocg  avTiTaooerac  rarreivolg  tie  didu)- 
olv  %dpn>).  This  Septuagint  quotation  (see  also 
1  Pet.  5:5)  is  a  free  translation  of  the  idea  in  the 
Hebrew  text.  It  is  the  striking  figure  of  God  stand- 
ing in  the  way  (avTirdooeTai) ,  across  the  path  of  the 
proud  man  who  carries  his  head  so  high  above 
others  (vnepjj^avoc;) .  He  will  in  due  time  be  brought 
low.  Pride  goeth  before  a  fall,  for  God  is  to  be  met 
along  that  road.  (Cf.  Acts  18:  6;  Rom.  13:  2.)  The 
man  of  the  world  feels  no  need  of  God  and  feels 
secure  and  serene.  But  he  reckons  without  his 
host.  God  shows  favor  (diduoiv  x^9lv)  to  the  hum- 
ble {ra-nELvolg.  Cf.  the  contrast  in  1:10).  The 
proud  men  think  themselves  the  monopolists  (Hort) 
of  divine  favor,  but  they  find  out  sooner  or  later 
that  they  are  passed  by  in  favor  of  the  man  with 
lowliness  of  spirit  and  nobility  of  life,  who  makes 
God,  not  the  world,  the  Lord  of  his  life.    This  man 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE  207 

God  honors  with  far  more  "grace"  than  the  world 
can  offer.  He  will  have  trouble  ("with  persecu- 
tions"), no  doubt,  but  "he  shall  receive  a  hundred- 
fold now  in  this  time,"  while  "in  the  world  to  come 
eternal  life"  (Mark  10:29^.).  The  prince  in  God's 
kingdom  and  at  his  court  is  not  the  man  who 
wears  the  trappings  of  earthly  rank  and  station, 
but  the  one  who  caught  the  spirit  of  Jesus  and 
sought  to  do  good  to  all  as  he  found  opportunity. 
Plummer  wonders  if  James  had  not  heard  his 
mother  recite  the  Magnificat.  Certainly,  he  here 
echoes  the  same  beautiful  spirit. 

5.  Choice  Between  God  and  the  Devil.    4:7,  8a. 

It  comes  to  this  at  bottom,  that  a  man  must  de- 
cide whether  God  is  to  rule  his  life  or  not.  It  is  self 
or  God,  and  that  is  the  same  thing  as  the  devil  or 
God,  for  a  self  without  God  is  ruled  by  the  devil. 
"Be  subject  therefore  unto  God"  [y-mordy^re.  ovv  tw 
0£<3),  since,  as  James  has  shown  in  verse  6,  God  gives 
grace  to  the  humble  and  withstands  the  proud. 
The  idea  is  like  that  in  Psa.  3 :  7  (LXX) :  "Be  sub- 
ject to  the  Lord"  {v-noTdyqdi  tw  k,vqI(S).  "The  proud 
spirit  has  to  be  curbed"  (Oesterley).  Peter  has  ex- 
panded this  idea  in  a  great  passage  (1  Pet.  5:  6-9). 
Our  only  hope  is  under  the  leadership  of  God.  The 
devil  is  the  "prince  of  the  world"  (6  tov  adaiiov  dpx^v- 
John  14:30),  and  he  has  plenty  of  help  in  the 
world  rulers  of  darkness  (Eph.  6:  uf.).  The  proud 
and  self-willed  are  sure  to  fall  into  his  condemna- 
tion (1  Tim.  3:6). 

"But   resist   the   devil"   (dvTiarTjre    de    t<2    6ia(36Xu>). 


208   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

Take  your  stand  (note  the  aorist  tense)  in  the  face 
of  (dvTi)  the  devil,  the  great  hinderer  and  slanderer 
(didftoXog).  The  fight  is  on  between  the  forces  of 
God  and  Satan,  and  one  must  take  sides.  A  man 
once  said  that  he  wished  to  be  impartial  in  the 
struggle  between  God  and  the  devil.  That  species 
of  liberality  is  out  of  the  question.  He  that  is  not 
with  Christ  is  against  him.  There  is  no  middle 
ground.  James  does  not  stop  to  parley  over  the 
existence  of  the  devil.  He  assumes  the  reality  of 
the  dread  agent  of  evil  who  is  bent  on  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  that  is  good  in  man.  The  point  to  see 
clearly  is  that  there  is  but  one  thing  to  do,  and  that 
is  to  fight  the  devil,  not  with  fire,  but  with  the  word 
of  God,  with  the  help  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  "Get 
thee  hence,  Satan,"  Jesus  had  to  say  (Matt.  4:  10). 
"And  he  will  flee  from  you"  (/cat  (pev^erat  &$'  vfiibv) . 
The  devil  will  run  if  we  fight  him  with  the  might  of 
God.  One  way  to  submit  to  God  is  to  fight  off  the 
devil. 

But  it  is  not  all  negative.  The  converse  is  true 
also.  "Draw  nigh  to  God,  and  he  will  draw  nigh 
to  you"  (tyy ioars  tg5  6eS>,  Kai  kyyiaei  vfilv).  The  He- 
brew had  a  technical  term  for  drawing  nigh  to  God 
for  the  purpose  of  worship  (Exod.  19:22;  Jer.  30:21). 
It  is  not  true  that  the  devil  is  irresistible  and  that  it 
is  useless  to  oppose  him  (Plummer).  This  is  one  of 
the  pleas  of  the  devil  himself  to  break  down  the 
resisting  power  of  the  human  will  and  so  to  take  all 
fight  out  of  us.  The  principle  that  James  here  an- 
nounces is  true  to  Scripture,  to  psychology,  and  to 
human  experience.     If  we  draw  nigh  to  the  devil  he 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE    209 

will  draw  nigh  to  us.  If  we  resist  him  he  will  flee 
from  us.  If  we  resist  God,  even  God  will  finally 
depart  from  us  and  leave  us  to  our  sins.  If  we  ap- 
proach God  in  worship  he  opens  his  heart  to  us. 
"Return  unto  me,  and  I  will  return  unto  you" 
(Zech.  1:3).  "To  this  end  the  Son  of  man  was 
manifested  that  he  might  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil"  (1  John  3:8).  "The  Lord  is  nigh  unto  all 
them  that  call  upon  him"  (Psa.  145:18).  God 
first  draws  nigh  unto  us  (John  16:  16)  and  when  we 
respond,  lo,  he  is  there  before  us.  The  place  of 
safety  and  of  power  for  the  Christian  is  the  Throne 
of  Grace.  There  he  has  a  mighty  Friend  and  Helper 
(Heb.  4:  16).  We  can  draw  close  to  God  as  a  child 
to  his  father  in  the  dark  and  feel  his  Presence. 

6.  A  Call  to  Repentance.    4:  8b-io. 

Here  James  speaks  like  one  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophets.  His  Epistle,  while  thoroughly  Christian, 
is  yet  nearer  to  the  standpoint  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophets  than  any  other  book  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. "Cleanse  your  hands,  ye  sinners"  (Kadapioare 
Xtigas,  afiapTuXoi).  The  priests  washed  their  hands 
before  they  entered  the  tabernacle  to  worship  (Exod. 
30:19-21;  Lev.  16:4).  It  was  natural  for  the 
language  to  be  applied  to  moral  purity:  "I  will  wash 
my  hands  in  innocency:  so  will  I  compass  thine 
altar,  0  God"  (Psa.  26:6).  See  also  Heb.  10:22. 
So  Pilate  sought  to  emphasize  his  own  freedom  (!) 
from  guilt  by  washing  his  hands  (Matt.  27:4),  if 
by  so  doing  he  might  also  soothe  his  own  conscience. 
It  is  now  as  it  has  always  been:  "Who  shall  ascend 


210   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

unto  the  hill  of  the  Lord?  And  who  shall  stand  in 
his  holy  place?  He  that  hath  clean  hands,  and  a 
pure  heart"  (Psa.  24:  3L). 

The  clean  hands  signify  little  in  a  moral  sense, 
however  desirable  for  sanitary  and  other  reasons, 
unless  the  heart  is  also  clean.  Indeed,  the  Pharisees 
came  to  make  the  cleansing  of  the  hands  a  sub- 
stitute for  moral  cleanness  (Mark  7 :  8ff.).  "Purify 
your  hearts,  ye  double-minded"  (dyvloare  mpSla^, 
dtyvxoi).  The  word  for  purification  here  is  the 
common  one  for  ceremonial  cleansing  (Exod.  19:  10), 
but  the  idea  is  figurative,  as  in  1  Pet.  1:22  and 
1  John  3:3.  James  seems  to  refer  to  Psa.  73:  13: 
"Wash  you,  make  you  clean"  (Xovoaade  icadapoi  yiv- 
eade,  Isa.  1:16).  The  double-minded  (dtyvxoc  Cf. 
James  1 :  8)  must  no  longer  halt  between  two  opinions. 
They  must  forsake  the  world  and  give  God  the 
whole  heart.  It  is  a  brave  word  for  reality  in  re- 
ligion and  against  the  hollow  mockery  of  mere  lip 
service. 

In  verse  9  we  have  a  rather  unusual  exhortation 
for  the  New  Testament.  The  word  for  repentance 
(fierdvoLa)  does  not  mean  sorrow,  but  change  of  mind 
and  life.  The  need  for  a  change  implies  sorrow  for 
the  sins  of  one's  life,  to  be  sure.  But  one  may  have 
sorrow  and  still  not  change  his  heart  and  life.  The 
thing  that  counts  is  the  change,  not  the  degree  of  the 
sorrow.  But,  certainly,  sorrow  for  sin  is  appropriate 
and  natural  for  the  sinner  who  turns  away  from  it. 
There  is  certainly  room  for  the  appeal  to  "be 
afflicted  and  mourn  and  weep"  (raXanrupiioaTs  nai 
TTU'drjoare  nai  tcXavoare,  all    aorists    with    a    note   of 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE    211 

urgency  in  the  tense).  One  is  reminded  of  the  "woe" 
of  Jesus  in  Luke  6:  25.  We  have  here  a  call  to  the 
godly  sorrow  described  in  2  Cor.  7:  10.  There  is  a 
time  to  laugh  and  a  time  to  mourn ;  yes,  and  a  time  for 
laughter  to  be  turned  dteTarpan^ro))  to  mourning  and 
even  for  joy  to  be  turned  into  heaviness  (tcar^etav),1 
like  the  poor  publican  with  downcast  eyes  in  the 
temple  before  God  (Luke  18:  13).  "The  words  ex- 
press the  contrast  between  the  loud  unseemly  gaiety 
of  the  pleasure-seeker,  and  the  subdued  mien  and 
downcast  look  of  the  penitent"  (Oesterley). 

"Humble  yourselves  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord" 
(raTTeLvd)di]Te  kv&mov  Kvglov).  This  is  the  only  proper 
attitude  for  the  sinner,  whether  saved  or  unsaved. 
See  the  same  figure  in  1  Pet.  5:6.  The  proud  Phari- 
see in  Luke  18:  11  is  the  picture  of  all  that  worship 
should  not  be. 

"And  he  shall  exalt  you"  (W  mpuaet  vfidg).  This  is 
the  law  of  grace,  as  is  often  stated  by  Jesus:  "Every 
one  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  humbled;  and  he 
that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted"  (Matt. 
23:  12;  Luke  14:  11).  But  the  man  that  humbles 
himself  before  the  eye  of  (evumov)  the  Lord  must 
do  so  because  of  real  apprehension  of  his  own  sin 
and  need  of  forgiveness,  not  for  the  purpose  of 
future  exaltation  to  be  obtained  by  momentary  self- 
abnegation.  The  delicate  balance  of  motives  here  is 
preserved.    The  promise  will  come  true,  if  only  one 


1  See  again  Luke  6:25.  Better  mourn  now  than  always  here- 
after. Karf/Qeia  is  a  classical  word  that  occurs  here  only  in  the 
N.  T.  It  expresses  the  look  of  one  who  has  his  eyes  down  upon 
the  ground. 


212   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

really  turns  to  the  Lord  with  sincerity  of  heart. 
Nothing  is  more  needed  to-day  than  just  this  pros- 
tration before  God. 

7.  Captious  Criticism.     4:  uf. 

Moffatt  places  these  verses  just  after  2:  13,  since 
this  "seems  to  have  been  its  original  place."  This 
is  the  position  also  given  by  Oesterley.  And  yet  it 
is  quite  possible  that  James  here  merely  recurs  to 
the  subject  of  the  loose  tongue,  as  he  had  already 
done  once  (cf.  1 :  26 ;  3 :  2ff.).  See  also  5:12.  He  has 
"one  word  more"  on  this  burning  topic,  a  sort  of 
postscript  on  the  tongue,  an  extremely  difficult  sub- 
ject to  say  the  last  word  about.  "Speak  not  against 
one  another,  brethren"  (fir}  KaraXaXelre  dXX^Xojv,  ddeX- 
(poi).  The  tense  of  the  verb  (present  durative)  im- 
plies that  some  of  them  had  been  doing  precisely 
this  thing.  It  is  so  easy  to  "talk  down  on  one" 
(/cara/laAwv) ,  to  act  as  critic  (itpivuv,  cf.  Matt.  7:1) 
of  one's  brother  in  Christ.  We  cannot  help  form- 
ing opinions  of  each  other,  but  we  can  avoid 
captious  criticism,  sharp  and  needless  censure. 
The  point  made  by  James  is  that  this  habit 
assumes  the  right  to  judge  the  very  law  of  God. 
It  is  far  easier  to  play  the  part  of  critic  (/tpmfr) 
of  the  law  than  to  be  a  doer  (tto^t^)  of  the  law. 
J  Destructive  criticism  is  always  the  cheaper  exercise 
and  the  more  useless.  Constructive  criticism  is  more 
creative  and  much  harder.  There  is  one  supreme 
lawgiver  {vo^oO^t^)  and  judge,  "he  who  is  able  to 
save  and  destroy"  (6  dwdfievos  ouocu  itai  d-noXvoai). 
This  power  belongs   to  God,   the  Creator   (Matt. 


THE  OUTER  AND  THE  INNER  LIFE    213 

10:  28;  Luke  6:9),  not  to  man,  the  creature.  The 
critic  of  the  law  prefers  to  find  flaws  in  the  law 
rather  than  to  undertake  to  obey  it.  He  assumes 
that  he  can  enact  a  better  law,  but  it  is  all  assump- 
tion. James  shows  his  impatience  with  such  criti- 
cism by  saying:  "But  who  art  thou  that  judgest  thy 
neighbor?"  (oi>  6i  Tt$-  el,  6  icpiviov  rov  TrXr)oiov).  See 
Rom.  14:4.  In  common  law  we  are  to  give  every 
man  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  and  to  assume  his 
innocence  till  his  guilt  is  proven.  But  in  current 
speech  the  sharp  tongue  follows  no  such  rule  of 
reason,  but  creates  suspicion  and  sows  hate  and 
strife  at  every  turn. 


CHAPTER  XI 

God  and   Business.     4:13-5:6 

The  arrogance  of  the  sinful  heart  is  clearly  shown 
here.  Such  a  heart  prefers  worldliness  to  the 
worship  of  God  (see  4:  1-10)  and  flippantly  criti- 
cises one's  neighbors  with  light-hearted  satisfaction 
with  self  and  a  positive  love  of  fault-finding  (4:1  if). 
This  easy  arrogance  faces  the  future  with  unconcern. 
No  look  Godward  is  taken  in  their  business  ventures. 
James  "opposes  the  irreligious  sense  of  travelling 
merchants"  (Windisch)1.  These  Jews  of  the  Dia- 
spora had  come  to  have  a  considerable  part  of  the 
business  of  the  Roman  Empire.  They  professed 
to  be  servants  of  God,  but  in  practice  they  often 
denied  and  ignored  the  God  of  their  fathers. 

/.  Leaving  God  out  of  Account.     4:  13-15. 

One  may  hope  that  James  alludes  to  the  Jewish 
merchants,  not  Jewish  Christians.  Certainly  those 
Jewish  merchants  who  became  Christians  con- 
tinued their  business,  though  not  in  a  Godless  fash- 
ion. The  merchant  has  one  of  the  most  useful  and 
most  honorable  of  all  callings,  but  it  seems  clear 
that  some  of  the  Jewish  merchants  had  already 
brought  disfavor  upon  the  business  by  their  sharp 
practices.  See  Sirach  26:29.  "A  merchant  will 
hardly  keep  himself  from  doing  wrong;  and  a  huck- 

1  Wider  den  irreligiosen  Sinn  der  Geschaftsrciscnden. 

214 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  215 

ster  will  not  be  declared  free  from  sin."  This  piece 
of  moralizing  is  evidently  occasioned  by  some  tricks 
in  trade  indulged  in  by  Jewish  merchants.  One  is 
bound  to  admit  that  some  modern  Jews  retain  some 
of  the  same  reputation  in  certain  lines  of  trade. 
The  very  term  "Jewing"  in  current  use  is  an  illus- 
tration of  this  trait.  There  were  then  as  now  enough 
Jewish  merchants  who  dealt  in  business  on  un- 
ethical lines  to  create  suspicion.  But  the  point  that 
James  makes  is  a  peril  to  Christian  merchants  also. 
The  keen  competition  in  all  kinds  of  business  is  a 
constant  temptation  to  violate  the  Golden  Rule  and 
to  ignore  God  as  well  as  the  welfare  of  one's  cus- 
tomers in  order  to  make  money  and  to  meet  a  rival 
who  is  unscrupulous  in  trade.  The  Christian 
drummer  to-day  can  do  business  on  a  high  plane. 
Hustle  and  enterprise  need  not  condescend  to  under- 
hand methods.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  note  the  activity 
of  the  Gideons,  an  organization  of  Christian  drum- 
mers who,  among  other  useful  things,  have  placed 
copies  of  the  Bible  in  the  rooms  of  most  American 
hotels.  Mr.  J.  H.  Mills,  a  quaint  layman  of  North 
Carolina,  used  to  say  that  the  Good  Samaritan  was 
a  drummer.  In  Palestine  the  Jews  held  on  to  the 
agricultural  life,  but  in  the  Diaspora  they  were 
merchants  and  bankers.  Philo  (In  Flaccum  VIII) 
gives  a  picture  of  the  Jewish  merchants  and  bankers 
in  Alexandria.  Josephus  (Ant.  XII,  2-5)  alludes 
to  the  Jewish  travelling  merchant  about  B.  C.  175. 
It  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  history  how  the  Jews, 
scattered  over  the  world,  finally  without  a  land  of 
their  own,  have  yet  by  their  wits  maintained  them- 


2i6   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

selves  as  a  race  and  a  religion  and  have  been  leaders 
in  business,  in  art,  in  music,  in  politics,  in  literature. 
"Come  now,  ye  that  say"  (aye  vvv  ol  XeyovregY  is 
the  impatient  challenge  of  James  to  those  who  leave 
God  out  of  account  in  their  plans  for  the  future. 
The  tone  of  impatience  is  due  to  the  conviction 
that  one  should  be  so  conscious  of  his  own  weakness 
as  not  to  boast  about  the  future.  "To-day  or  to- 
morrow we  will  go  into  this  city,  and  spend  a  year 
there,  and  trade,  and  get  gain"  (a^epov  r\  avpiov  ttoqev- 

odfieda  elg  T7\v6*t  tt\v  ttoXlv  nai  ttoijJoo/iev  kicei  kviavrbv  nai 
kfiTTopevooneda  nai  Kepdrjoonev).  And  then  we  shall 
move  on  to  the  next  town  and  work  that  with  our 
wares,  for  all  the  world  like  a  modern  "fire  sale"  or 
second-hand  clothing  store  with  its  bankruptcy  or 
fire  features.  The  picture  is  drawn  from  life.  The 
use  of  "this  city"  (rqvde  rrjv  TToXiv)  is  merely  typical, 
as  if  James  were  pointing  it  out  on  the  map 
(Mayor),  and  is  more  vivid  than  "such  and  such  a 
city."  In  James  1:11  we  read  that  the  rich  man 
shall  "fade  away  in  his  goings"  •  (h  ralg  Tropeiaig),  an 
allusion  to  the  travels  of  the  rich  merchants.  We 
see  the  rapid  movements  of  the  Jewish  Christians 
illustrated  by  the  travels  of  Aquila  and  Priscilla, 
who  come  from  Rome  to  Corinth  (Acts  18 :  if .),  then 
to  Ephesus  (18:18),  to  Rome  again  (Rom.  16:3), 
and  back  to  Ephesus  (2  Tim.  4:19)-  The  phrase 
"spend  a  year  there"  {ttoit\oo\izv  IkeI  hviavrov)  is  liter- 

1  The  use  of  aye  with  ol  teyovres  causes  no  trouble  as  aye  is  a  mere 
interjection.  See  Robertson,  Grammar  of  the  Greek  N.  T.  in  the 
Light  of  Hist.  Research,  pp.  941,  949-  It  occurs  thus  in  the  LXX. 
Cf.  Judg.  19:6;  2  Kings  4:24. 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  217 

ally  "do  a  year  there,"  and  the  idiom  occurs  also 
in  Acts  15:33;  20:3  (cf.  Prov.  13:23).  The  wide 
dispersion  of  the  Jews  all  over  the  Roman  Em- 
pire gave  them  business  connections  that  made 
it  easy  to  get  new  business  and  to  hold  the  old 
trade.  The  very  word  here  for  "trade"  (e^Tcopevao- 
fieda)  means  to  travel  into  (k[j,nopEvo[Mii)  a  region  to 
get  (the  business  just  like  a  modern  drummer 
or  commercial  traveller.  Our  word  emporium  (eju- 
■noQiov)  is  just  this  word.  The  Jews  made  the  very 
Temple  itself  "a  house  of  merchandise"  {olnov 
kfiTTopiov) .  So  then  trading  implied  travelling  for  the 
business  (Matt.  22:5).  In  2  Pet.  2:3a  sombre  light 
is  thrown  by  this  same  word.  "And  in  covetous- 
ness  shall  they  with  feigned  words  make  merchan- 
dise of  you"  (y^idg  kunopevoovTcu)  .*  "And  get  gain" 
{ical  Kepd^oofiev) .  This  is  the  climax  of  the  whole, 
the  aim  of  the  journeys  and  the  trading.  "The 
frequent  conjunctions  separate  the  different  items  of 
the  plan,  which  are  rehearsed  thus  one  by  one  with 
manifest  satisfaction.  The  speakers  gloat  over  the 
different  steps  of  the  programme  which  they  have 
arranged  for  themselves"  (Plummer).  There  is  no 
harm  in  planning  to  make  money  nor  in  travel  for 
that  purpose.  The  harm  lies  in  the  complete 
ignoring  of  God  in  all  their  plans. 

"Whereas  ye  know  not  what  shall  be  on  the  mor- 
row" (oiTiveg  T?ig  avpiov),2  "you  who  know  nothing 


1  Transitive  use  of  the  verb. 

2  Note  the  causal  use  of  oinveec,  not  indefinite,  but  more  definite. 
Westcott  and  Hort  read  ra  ttjq  avpiov  in  the  margin,  "the  things  of 
the  to-morrow  day"  (w^paf,  understood). 


218   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

about  to-morrow"  (Moffatt).  James  has  ample 
authority  in  this  statement.  "Boast  not  thyself 
of  to-morrow ;  for  thou  knowest  not  what  a  day  may 
bring  forth"  (Prov.  27  :  i).1  The  prohibition  implies 
a  carelessness  about  the  future  that  grew  out  of 
indifference  to  God.  There  is  a  rabbinical  saying 
(Sanhed.  100b)  to  this  effect.  "Care  not  for  the 
morrow,  for  ye  know  not  what  a  day  may  bring 
forth."  James  is  condemning  those  who  make 
their  plans  for  the  future  with  God  left  out  of  the 
problem,  as  if  all  were  in  their  own  hands.  Jesus 
spoke  the  wonderful  parable  of  the  Rich  Fool  for 
the  benefit  of  two  brothers  who  were  quarrelling 
over  the  estate:  "Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid 
up  for  many  years;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  be 
merry."  This  was  the  worldly-wise  view  of  the 
Cyrenaics  and  the  Epicureans  and  is  the  standpoint 
of  multitudes  of  modern  men  who  under  the  influence 
of  Monism  (like  Haeckel)  deny  the  existence  of  a 
personal  God  or  who  act  as  if  there  were  no  God. 
"The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  there  is  no  God." 
(Psa.  14:  1).  But  God  replies  to  the  fool,  "Thou 
foolish  one,  this  night  is  thy  soul  required  of  thee; 
and  the  things  which  thou  hast  prepared,  whose 
shall  they  be?"  Jesus  does  not  contradict  this 
position  when  he  says:  "Be  not  therefore  anxious 
(nepifivrjariTe)  for  the  morrow;  for  the  morrow  will 
be  anxious  for  itself.  Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the 
evil  thereof"  (Matt.  6:  34).  He  is  here  condemning 
over-anxiety  that  is  as  distrustful  of  God  as  reckless 
unconcern.      There   is   the   golden   mean   of   calm 

1  jiij  Kavxu  ra  fJf  avpuw,  oil  yap  yivucneiq  ri  litjerai  /)  kniovoa. 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  219 

trust  in  God.  We  are  not  to  live  at  haphazard 
without  plan  or  purpose.  We  are  to  make  plans, 
only  we  must  put  God  into  our  preparations.  It  is 
cowardly  to  be  superstitious  in  the  anticipation  of 
evil.  Same  people  knock  on  wood  if  they  happen 
to  boast  a  bit.  Others  are  superstitious  about  the 
number  thirteen,  about  Friday,  about  the  moon, 
and  a  hundred  other  hallucinations.  The  point 
with  these  Jews  is  not  worry  or  superstition, 
but  irreligion.  There  are  multitudes  of  practical 
pagans  to-day  who  reck  not  about  God,  who  fear 
not  God  nor  regard  man.  They  carry  on  their 
business  with  no  thought  of  God  and  no  fear  of 
consequences  for  their  evil  practices.  They  wreck 
a  bank  or  a  railroad  with  equal  nonchalance  and  care 
not  for  the  suffering  in  the  homes  of  the  poor  caused 
thereby. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  are  ignorant  of  the  morrow. 
We  do  not  know  the  weather  of  the  morrow  with 
certainty  in  spite  of  our  signal  service.  Many  rail- 
road accidents  are  due  to  the  unknown  elements  in 
the  problems  of  travel.  A  faulty  rail,  a  broken  tie, 
a  weakened  wheel,  a  rolling  stone,  a  careless  brake- 
man,  a  sleeping  switchman,  a  malicious  robber,  a 
hundred  and  one  things  may  happen,  any  one  of 
which  will  cause  death  to  helpless  victims.  "The 
best  laid  schemes  o'  mice  and  men  gang  aft  a-gley." 

The  uncertainty  of  life  is  one  of  the  things  that  a 
wise  man  must  consider  and  face.  A  clot  of  blood 
on  the  brain  may  cause  instant  and  unexpected 
death.  The  heart,  driven  too  hard,  may  suddenly 
cease  to  beat.     "What  is  your  life?"     (noia  ??  £<u^ 


220   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

vfitiv;).  He  does  not  mean  manner  of  life  (frog) 
nor  the  life  principle  nor  eternal  life.  The  question 
concerns  all,  the  good  and  the  wicked  alike.  The 
question  as  to  the  character  (noia,  of  what  sort)  of 
life  pertains  to  its  brevity  and  uncertainty  on  earth. 
"For  ye  are  a  vapor"  (ar/tig  ydp  eare),  "you  are  but 
a  mist"  (Moffatt).  The  word  is  common  for  smoke, 
as  the  "smoke  of  furnace"  (Gen.  19:  28),  "vapor  of 
smoke"  (arfiig  kcittvov,  Acts  2:19;  from  Joel  2:30), 
steam  or  breath.  So  our  "atmosphere."  Job  la- 
mented (7:7):  "O  remember  that  my  life  is  a 
breath"  {-nvevjia  iiov  %  &rj).  We  are  a  vapor  "that 
appeareth  for  a  little  time,  and  then  vanisheth 
away"  (irpog   oXlyov  (paivofitvr),   eneira   icai   a<pavi£oiievij) .l 

Aristotle  (Hist.  An.  vi.  7)  uses  these  two  verbs  of 
the  appearance  (<j>aivETai)  and  the  disappearance 
(acpavifrTai)  of  a  flock  of  birds  as  they  sweep  across 
the  sky.  The  usage  occurs  also  of  the  eclipse  of  the 
"sun.  The  transitoriness  of  human  life  should  lead 
to  full  and  hearty  recognition  of  God,  not  to  careless 
slighting  of  Him. 

"For  that  ye  ought  to  say,"  more  exactly  "In- 
stead of  your  saying"  {avri  tow  Xiyuv  v/idg),2  "If 
the  Lord  will"  (kdv  6  Kvpiog  deXxi)  "we  shall  both 
live,  and  do  this  or  that"  (nai  tfoonev  ml  noirioofiev 
tovto  ij  eKslvo).  James  does  not,  of  course,  mean 
that  one  should  always  say  these  words.  That 
gets   to  be  cant  or   mere   clap-trap.      It   becomes 


1  Note  the  play  on  the  same  verb  here.      For  ""/oof  bliyov,  see 
1  Tim.  4:8. 

2  A  neat  Greek  idiom,  the  preposition  with  the  infinitive.      Cf. 
Psa.  108:4,  ovrl  tov  ayanav  fit. 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  221 

repellent  to  hear  one  use  the  name  of  God  flippantly 
and  constantly.  Besides,  it  comes  to  signify  little 
or  nothing,  as  one  may  count  his  beads  or  say  his 
Pater  Nosters  with  no  regard  to  what  he  is  doing. 
The  Jews  made  a  point  not  to  use  the  name  of  God 
too  familiarly.  They  often  used  "the  Name"  for 
God,  and  Christians  came  to  refer  to  Christ  in  the 
same  way,  "for  the  Name"  (Acts  5:41).  The  late 
Jews  came,  perhaps  under  Mohammedan  influence, 
to  use  the  formula  "If  the  Name  wills,"  when  about 
to  start  upon  a  journey  (Oesterley).  The  rabbis 
(Plummer)  have  a  story  of  a  Jewish  father  who  at 
the  circumcision  of  his  son,  boasted  that  with  seven- 
year-old  wine  he  would  celebrate  for  a  long  time  the 
birth  of  his  son,  That  night  Rabbi  Simeon  meets 
the  Angel  of  Death  and  asks  him  "Why  art  thou 
thus  wandering  about?"  The  angel  replies:  "Be- 
cause I  slay  those  who  say,  we  will  do  this  or  that, 
and  think  not  how  soon  death  may  come  upon 
them."  The  thing  that  matters  is  for  us  to  have 
the  right  attitude  of  heart  toward  God,  not  the 
chattering  of  a  formula.  God  does  not  have  to  be 
propitiated  by  a  charm  or  amulet.  God  should  be 
the  silent  partner  in  all  our  plans  and  work,  to  be 
consulted,  to  be  followed  whenever  his  will  is  made 
known.  Paul  frequently  spoke  of  his  plans,  some- 
times mentioning  God  as  in  Acts  18:21  (God  willing, 
roi)  Oeov  dekovro^)  and  1  Cor.  4:  19  (if  the  Lord  will, 
eav  6  Kvpiog  OeXTjoq)  and  1  Cor.  16:7  (if  the  Lord  per- 
mit, kav  b  KvpLog  smTpe-ny),  but  also  with  no  mention  of 
God  in  words  as  in  Acts  19:  21 ;  Rom.  15  :  28;  1  Cor. 
16:5.     But  always  Paul  felt  that  his  movements 


222   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

were  "in  the  Lord"  (ev  ™  Kvpiu)  &s  in  Phil.  2:  24. 
He  never  left  God  out  of  his  life. 

2.  Conscious  Opposition.     4:  16. 

It  is  bad  enough  to  ignore  God  as  so  many  men, 
alas,  do.  A  slight  is  almost  as  hard  to  bear  as  an 
insult,  but  not  quite.  However,  a  positive  refusal 
to  do  God's  known  will  is  worse.  "But  now" 
(vvv  6e),  as  is  really  the  case  (cf.  1  Cor.  14:  6),  "But 
here  you  are"  (Moffatt),  instead  of  your  trust  in 
God,  "ye  glory  in  your  vauntings"  (Kavxdade  kv  ralg 
aXa&viaiq  vfitbv).  In  their  pride  of  life  (7/  aXafrvia  rov 
fliov,  1  John  2:16)  they  practically  defied  God. 
The  word  (aXa&v)  meant  originally  a  wanderer 
(dXrf)  about  the  country,  a  vagabond,  a  Scotch 
landlouper,  a  swaggerer,  an  impostor,  a  braggart. 
In  Job  2 :  8  we  find  the  "children  of  pride"  (viol 
aXa&viov).  "And  I  exalted  not  myself  in  arrogance"1 
(Test.  Joseph  XVII,  8).  And  Jesus  said:  "I  am 
among  you  as  one  that  serveth"  (Luke  22:27). 
These  men  were  exalting  themselves  at  the  expense 
of  God.  They  were  running  against  the  known 
will  of  God.  One  of  the  rabbis  says:  "It  is  revealed 
and  known  before  Thee  that  our  will  is  to  do  Thy 
will"  (Berachoth,  17a).  "All  such  glorying  is  evil" 
(naoa  KavxrjaK;  roiavrrj  Trovqod  kortv),  says  James.  It 
is  not  wicked  (irovr\od)  per  se  to  boast  (cf.  1:9),  but 
such  boasting  as  this  is  wicked  and  only  wicked 
like  the  wicked  one  (6  irov^oog) .  It  is  not  impossible 
to  know  the  will  of  God  if  one  will  pay  the  price. 
"If   any  man  willeth   to   do   (deXy  noielv)  his  will, 

1  kv  a?.a{uvip. 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  223 

he  shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  is  of  God" 
(John  7 :  17).  The  way  opens  out  to  the  one  who 
is  willing  to  put  God  to  the  test.  "The  boaster 
forgets  that  life  depends  on  the  will  of  God" 
(Mayor). 

3.  Negative  Sin.  4:17. 

In  a  way  this  verse  is  a  summary  of  the  entire 
epistle  (cf.  1:22;  2:14;  3:1,  13;  4:11).  Hence 
James'  "therefore"  (ovv)  is  quite  in  point.  Moffatt 
places  this  verse  at  the  end  of  chapter  2.  Spitta, 
however,  finds  no  connection  in  the  context  and  takes 
it  as  a  familiar  quotation.  This  may  indeed  be  a 
reference  to  the  words  of  Jesus  in  Luke  12  :  47  :  "That 
servant,  who  knew  his  lord's  will,  and  made  not 
ready,  nor  did  according  to  his  will,  shall  be  beaten 
with  many  stripes."  There  is  an  excusable  ignor- 
ance or  at  least  a  mollifying  ignorance  (cf.  Luke 
12:48;  Acts  3:  17;  1  Tim.  1:  13).  There  is  pallia- 
tion for  unconscious  sins.  But  James  is  dealing 
with  failure  to  obey  the  will  of  God.  It  is  conscious 
and  wilful  sin,  but  of  the  negative  kind.  These  sins 
of  omission  (peccata  omission-is)  are  treated  lightly 
by  many  people.  The  Talmud  in  general  takes 
this  easy  position  on  the  subject.  Oesterley  quotes 
the  Jerusalem  Talmud  (Yoma  viii,  6)  on  Zeph.  1 :  12 : 
"I  will  search  Jerusalem  with  candles,  and  I  will 
punish  the  men"  which  adds:  "not  by  daylight,  nor 
with  the  torch,  but  with  candles,  so  as  not  to  detect 
venial  sins."  But  he  adds  also  this  (Shabbath,  54b) : 
"Whosoever  is  in  a  position  to  prevent  sins  being 
committed  in  his  household,  but  refrains  from  doing 


224   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

so,  becomes  liable  for  their  sins."  And  in  i  Sam. 
12 :  23  we  read,  "God  forbid  that  I  should  sin  against 
the  Lord  in  ceasing  to  pray  for  you."  Jesus  made 
it  plain  that  he  considered  sins  of  omission  as  real 
sins:  "These  things  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and 
not  to  have  left  the  other  undone"  (Matt.  23:  23). 
Hear  his  tragic  words  to  the  deluded  sinner  at  the 
judgment  bar:  "I  was  hungry,  and  ye  did  not 
give  me  to  eat;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  no 
drink;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  not  in; 
naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  not;  sick  and  in  prison, 
and  ye  visited  me  not"  (Matt.  25:  42!).  The 
repetition  of  "not"  here  is  like  the  tolling  of  a 
bell.  Hear  then  James:  "To  him  therefore  that 
knoweth  to  do  good  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him 
it  is  sin"  (elSon  ovv  naXbv  txoleIv  icai  fifj  itoiovvti,  a\iaoria 
avru)  konv).  So  also  Paul  urged  the  Galatians  not 
to  grow  weary  in  doing  the  good  or  beautiful  (Gal. 
6:9,  to  KaXbv  ttoiovvtes) .  It  is  so  easy  to  shut  one's 
eyes  and  not  to  see  the  opportunities  for  service. 
It  is  so  easy  to  let  prejudice  blind  us  to  the  needs  of 
the  real  neighbor,  as  the  priest  and  the  Levite  passed 
by  on  the  other  side  {avTL-naoriXdev)  and  left  the  poor 
wounded  man  to  suffer  (Luke  10:  3 if.).  The  point 
that  James  is  anxious  to  make  is  that  this  blindness 
is  sin.  The  man  who  has  learned  how  to  do  the  high 
and  noble  deed  and  then  falls  short  has  committed 
a  sin.  It  is  a  heavy  indictment  that  is  here  drawn 
against  us.  We  are  charged  with  not  coming  up 
to  the  standard  of  our  highest  knowledge.  Plum- 
mer  comments  pertinently  on  the  Roman  Catholic 
doctrine  of  Probabilism  which  seeks  to  excuse  the 


\y 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  225 

weakness  of  the  flesh  and  to  justify  one  in  his  pre- 
ference of  the  lower  in  the  presence  of  the  higher. 
"So  long  as  it  is  not  certain  that  the  act  in  question 
is  forbidden  it  may  be  permitted."  Plummer  adds: 
"The  moral  law  is  not  so  much  explained  as  ex- 
plained away."  Alphonse  de  Sarasa  wrote  on  "The 
Art  of  Perpetual  Enjoyment"  (Ars  Semper  Gaudendi), 
a  piece  of  special  pleading  for  the  indulgence  of  the 
flesh.  "The  good  is  the  enemy  of  the  best,"  and  the 
bad  is  the  enemy  of  the  good.  Down  the  steps  we 
go  to  the  bottom  of  the  ladder. 

4.  Tainted  Wealth.     5:  1-3. 

Oesterley  finds  proof  of  the  "patchwork"  character 
of  the  Epistle  in  the  five  paragraphs  of  the  closing 
chapter.  But  in  a  "wisdom"  book  one  does  not 
expect  direct  connection  between  the  paragraphs. 
That  is  not  true  of  the  practical  portions  of  the 
Pauline  Epistles.  In  the  first  eleven  verses  of  this 
chapter  the  eschatological  standpoint  is  occupied, 
possibly  that  of  Jewish  eschatology  in  1-6  and  that 
of  Christian  eschatology  in  7-1 1  (Oesterley).  Note 
"in  the  last  days"  in  verse  3.  James  is  familiar  with 
the  prophetic  imagery  of  the  Messianic  times  in 
apocalyptic  style,  but  very  pointed  in  his  courageous 
indictment  of  the  follies  and  iniquities  of  the  wicked 
rich.  Johnstone  entitles  this  paragraph  "the  woes 
of  the  wicked  rich."  Mayor  says:  "It  is  not  the 
careless  worldliness  of  the  bustling  trader  which  is 
condemned,  but  the  more  deadly  worldliness  of  the 
unjust  capitalist  or  landlord."  In  verse  7  James 
seems  to  contrast  "the  brethren"  with  the  rich  of 


226  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

verses  1-6.  It  is  worth  while  to  quote  Isa.  33:1: 
"Woe  to  thee  that  spoilest,  and  thou  wast  not 
spoiled;  and  dealest  treacherously,  and  they  dealt 
not  treacherously  with  thee!  When  thou  hast 
ceased  to  spoil,  thou  shalt  be  spoiled;  and  when 
thou  hast  made  an  end  to  deal  treacherously,  they 
shall  deal  treacherously  with  thee."  And  Hab.  2:9: 
"Woe  to  him  that  getteth  an  evil  gain  for  his  house, 
that  he  may  set  his  nest  on  high,  that  he  may  be 
delivered  from  the  hand  of  evil."  Note  also  the 
Book  of  Enoch  94:  7 :  "Woe  to  those  that  build  their 
houses  with  sin" ;  96 :  8,  "Woe  unto  you  mighty  who 
violently  oppress  the  righteous,  for  the  day  of  your 
destruction  will  come."  Perhaps  there  is  an  allu- 
sion to  the  words  of  Jesus  against  the  Pharisees 
(Matt.  23:  13-36).  The  Gospel  of  Luke  is  held  by 
some  to  have  an  Ebionitic  tendency  because  it 
preserves  some  plain  words  of  Jesus  to  and  about 
the  rich  (6:24;  18:24).  But  Jesus  is  not  hostile 
towards  the  rich,  for  he  had  friends  and  followers 
from  the  wealthy  classes,  though  he  dealt  very 
squarely  and  honestly  with  them.  Some  Jews  held 
that  all  the  rich  were  wicked  as  some  modern 
socialists  and  anarchists  do.  But  certainly  Jesus 
did  not  fawn  upon  the  rich  nor  curry  favor  with 
them  by  flattery  or  compromise.  It  is  easy  to  de- 
nounce classes  of  men  en  masse.  It  requires  per- 
spicacity and  courage  to  discriminate,  to  be  just, 
and  to  seek  to  remedy  real  ills.  The  rich  Jews  had 
already  oppressed  the  Christians  and  made  the 
conditions  of  life  hard. 

The  Christians  were  helpless  for  any  immediate 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  227 

relief.  They  had  little  or  no  power  in  government 
and  had  to  live  in  the  social  and  economic  atmos- 
phere created  by  those  hostile  to  them.  It  was  not 
a  democratic,  but  an  imperialistic  age.  In  holding 
out  the  consolation  that  rectification  of  these  grave 
evils  will  come  at  the  second  coming  of  Christ, 
James  does  not  mean  to  condone  the  present  situa- 
tion nor  to  acquiesce  in  it.  But  what  cannot  be 
cured  can  be  endured.  Christianity  has  had  a  long 
and  hard  fight  in  the  effort  to  alleviate  the  sufferings 
of  the  poor.  Ofttimes  grasping  men  of  money  have 
used  the  very  church  itself  as  a  means  of  oppression 
instead  of  an  agent  of  blessing.  It  is  a  sad  state 
when  men  and  women  with  real  social  wrongs  come 
to  feel  that  Christianity  is  a  negative  factor  in  their 
struggle  or  a  positive  hindrance  to  success.  James 
turns  upon  these  oppressors:  "Come  now,  ye  rich, 
weep  and  howl  for  your  miseries  that  are  coming 
upon  you."  This  "come  now"  (dye  vvv)  is  like  that 
in  4:  13.  "Weep  and  shriek"  (icXavoaTe  bXoXv^ovreg) , 
Moffatt  has  it.  The  word  (dXoXvfa)  is  an  onomato- 
poetic  word  and  is  used  only  of  violent  grief  as  in 
Isa.  13:6;  14:31.  It  does  not  occur  elsewhere  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  apocalyptic  writings  have 
a  good  deal  to  say  about  the  "miseries"  (raXanrojpiaig) 
"that  were  coming"  (ralg  tTregxo^vaig)  upon  them 
(cf.  Joel  2:ioff.;  Zech.  i4:6ff.;  Dan.  12:1).  The 
gospels  connect  them  also  with  the  Day  of  the 
Lord  (Matt.  24:  25;  Mark  13:  14-27;  Luke  21:9-19). 
Part  of  the  gospel  prophecies  were  fulfilled  in  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

"Your    riches    are    corrupted"    (6    ttXovto?   v/lmv 


228  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

oeo-qnev),1  "your  wealth  lies  rotting"  (Moffatt).  The 
perfect  tense  presents  the  state  of  rottenness.  This 
ill-gotten  gain  will  not  keep.  It  is  already  putrid 
and  smells  to  heaven.  There  is  such  a  thing  as 
tainted  money,  blood-money  wrung  from  the  op- 
pressed toilers,  money  gained  by  financial  legerde- 
main ("high  finance")  at  the  expense  of  helpless 
stockholders  whose  stock  is  watered  for  the  benefit 
of  the  few  in  control;  money  made  out  of  the  souls 
and  bodies  of  men  and  women  in  the  saloon  and  the 
white  slave  traffic.  The  ethics  of  money -making  is 
a  large  question  and  a  vital  one  in  modern  life.  It  is 
raised  in  an  acute  form  by  this  passage.  Christians 
cannot  afford  to  make  money  by  crushing  the  life 
out  of  business  rivals  on  the  juggernaut  principle. 
The  Golden  Rule  ought  to  work  in  business.  Christ 
claims  control  of  the  money  and  the  making  of 
money.  The  Christian  is  disloyal  to  Christ  who 
acts  on  what  Rev.  John  A.  Hutton  calls  the  "bulk- 
head" or  compartment  principle  of  life  and  keeps 
his  money  in  a  separate  bulkhead  into  which  he 
does  not  allow  Christ  to  enter.  Christ  claims  the 
right  of  a  partner  in  our  business,  and  not  that  of  a 
silent  partner,  but  an  active  one.  We  are  in  busi- 
ness with  Christ  and  for  Christ.  The  Christian  has 
no  right  to  have  rotten  riches.  He  should  have  clean 
money,  not  filthy  lucre.  Sound  money  is  more  than 
mere  phrase.     Money  represents  labor  and   labor 


1  In  Epictetus  (see  Sharp,  Epictetus  and  the  N.  T.,  pp.  57f.) 
oairpdq  has  the  weaker  sense  of  "poor,"  like  the  use  of  "rotten"  in 
England.  In  P.  Brit.  M.  356  (i/A.  D.)  "art  aan^bv  avry  ihvvai,  the 
idea  of  aa-p6v  is  "stale." 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  229 

is  the  sweat  of  brain  and  brawn.  The  gambler 
cannot  offer  clean  money  to  God.  He  has  robbed  a 
man  of  his  money. 

"Your  garments  are  moth-eaten"  (to  ifidna  v/jubv 
ff7/r6/3pwra  yiyovev).  We  have  the  prophetic  perfect 
here  and  James  sees  the  outcome  as  a  reality  in  a 
state  of  completion.  It  is  a  vivid  picture  of  fine 
clothes  eaten  by  moths  and  full  of  holes,  ruined 
beyond  repair.  In  the  east  these  rich  garments 
were  handed  down  as  heirlooms  from  generation 
to  generation  and  often  formed  a  considerable  part 
of  the  wealth  of  a  rich  man.  Paul  refers  to  this 
when  he  said:  "I  coveted  no  man's  silver,  or  gold, 
or  apparel"  (Acts  20:33).  The  picture  of  an  old 
moth-eaten  garment  is  forlorn  in  the  extreme. 
"Though  I  am  like  a  rotten  thing  that  consumeth, 
like  a  garment  that  is  moth-eaten"  (Job  13:28). 
A  plutocrat  is  subject  to  the  fate  of  all  mortals. 

"Your  gold  and  your  silver  are  rusted"  (6  %Qva°S 
v[i<bv  Kai  b  dgyvpos  Kariuyrai)1,  "lie  rusted  over"  (Mof- 
fatt).  As  a  matter  of  fact  gold  does  not  rust 
in  the  ordinary  sense,  except  by  chemicals,  though 
silver  tarnishes  rather  easily.  However,  this  verb 
(Kanou)  is  used  in  Sirach  1 2 :  1 1  of  a  mirror  dimmed 
with  rust,  but  the  Hebrew  word  is  used  also  of  filth. 
A  dirty  mirror  is  one  of  the  ugliest  sights.  James 
is  using  popular  language,  to  be  sure,  and  is  not  to 
be  held  to  the  terminology  of  science.  But  scientists 
themselves  hardly  know  how  to  use  language  ac- 
curately since  radium  is  found  to  break  down  the 

1  The  Pindaric  construction  occurs  with  this  singular  verb  {xari. 
urai). 


23o   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

lines  between  metals  and  transmutation  (according 
to  Sir  William  Ramsay)  actually  occurs  like  the 
alchemy  of  the  ancients.  In  James  3 :  8  this  word 
for  "rust"  (log)  is  used  for  poison.  At  any  rate, 
there  rests  decay  on  all  mortal  things.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  wait  for  the  Day  of  the  Lord  to  see 
this  fact.  "Their  rust"  (6  log  avribv)  "shall  be  for  a 
testimony  against  you"  (dg  \iaprvpiov  vjuv  tarai). 
There  will  be  no  escape  from  this  telltale  rust  which, 
like  gray  hairs,  betrays  age  and  the  approach  of 
death.  "And  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  fire"  («<u 
(frdyerai  rag  odpicag  v/j,cbv  cjg  nvp).  Westcott  and  Hort 
place  "as  fire"  (w?  nvp)  with  the  next  sentence. 
Either  punctuation  makes  good  sense,  but  it  is  a 
bolder  figure  as  above,  for  nothing  eats  up  what  it 
seizes  upon  more  rapidly  or  completely  than  fire. 
Feeding  the  flames  of  the  furnace  as  a  stoker  in  the 
great  ships  is  one  of  the  most  exhaustive  of  all  tasks. 
Fire  licks  up  all  in  its  reach  and  will  gut  modern 
fire-proof  buildings  (iron  and  concrete)  when  once  it 
gets  started,  even  the  wonderful  concrete  structures 
of  the  Edison  plant.  The  plural  here  (rag  odpmg) 
emphasizes  the  completeness  of  the  work  of  de- 
struction. 

"Ye  have  laid  up  your  treasures  in  the  last  days" 
(IdTjoavpio-are  ev  kox&Tcug  rjfiepaig).  These  wicked  rich 
have  heaped  up  treasure  like  a  thesaurus  and  in  the 
end  of  the  day  have  seen  it  turn  to  dust  and  ashes, 
crumbling  between  their  fingers.  There  is  no  vault 
on  earth  secure  against  moth  and  rust  and  thieves 
(Matt.  6:  19).  Those  who  set  their  hearts  upon  the 
wealth  of  earth  are  bound  to  come  to  grief.     Pitiful 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  231 

is  the  state  of  the  man  "that  layeth  up  treasure  for 
himself  and  is  not  rich  toward  God"  (Luke  12:  21). 
The  only  wealth  that  lasts  is  riches  toward  God, 
and  this  is  open  to  us  all.  The  only  wise  use  ot 
money  is  so  to  use  it  as  to  make  friends  who  will 
welcome  us  in  heaven  (Luke  16:  9)  into  the  eternal 
tabernacles.  The  mammon  of  unrighteousness  may 
be  so  employed.  If  it  is  not,  one  will  find  that  he 
has  simply  treasured  up  wrath  against  the  day  of 
wrath,  to  be  paid  at  last  with  compound  interest 
(Rom.  2:5). 

5.  Wronged  Workers.     5:4. 

The  God  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right.  He  is  not 
deaf  to  the  cries  of  those  oppressed  millions  in  the 
ages  whose  piteous  appeals  for  elemental  justice 
come  to  him.  This  is  a  terrible  indictment  of  Jew- 
ish capitalists  who  withheld  the  meager  wages  of 
the  men  who  gathered  the  harvests.  "Behold,  the 
hire  of  the  laborers  who  mowed  your  fields,  which 
is  of  you  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth  out."  The  hire 
of  the  laborers  (6  ^uoddg  twv  Ipyarwv)  reminds  one  of 
the  proverb,  "The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire" 
(Luke  10:7;  1  Tim.  5:18).  The  word  for  "hire" 
(pioddc;)  occurs  sometimes  in  the  sense  of  reward 
(e.  g.,  1  Cor.  3:8,  14),  but  the  original  idea  is 
that  of  pay  for  work  done  (e.  g.,  Matt.  jj>:  8}, 
and  so  here.  The  word  for  laborer  {tyyp*rf<r)  means 
any  kind  of  workman,  but  it  is  conimon  in  the 
New  Testament  for  agricultural  workers.  "The 
harvest  indeed  is  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  (01  epyd- 
rat)  are  few"  (Matt.  9:37).    When  the  work  is  done 


27,2   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

it  is  only  simple  justice  for  the  workman  to  receive 
his  pay,  for  the  hungry  mouths  at  home  have  to  be 
filled.  In  the  Old  Testament  the  cause  of  the  work- 
man was  guarded  with  special  care:  "Thou  shalt  not 
oppress  a  hired  servant  that  is  poor  and  needy, 
whether  he  be  of  thy  brethren,  or  of  thy  strangers 
that  are  in  thy  land  within  thy  gates:  in  his  day 
thou  shalt  give  him  his  hire,  neither  shall  the  sun 
go  down  upon  it:  lest  he  cry  against  thee  unto  the 
Lord,  and  it  be  a  sin  unto  thee"  (Deut.  24:  i4f.). 
See  also  Mai.  3:5,  "I  will  be  a  swift  witness  against 
.  .  .  those  that  oppress  the  hireling  in  his  wages." 
Tobit  charges  his  son  Tobias:  "Let  not  the  wages 
of  any  man,  which  hath  wrought  for  thee,  tarry 
with  thee,  but  give  him  it  out  of  hand"  (Tobit  4: 
14).  Sirach  (34:  2if.)  says:  "The  bread  of  the  needy 
is  the  life  of  the  poor :  he  that  def raudeth  (anooTeptiv) 
him  thereof  is  a  man  of  blood.  He  that  taketh  away 
his  neighbor's  living  slayeth  him;  and  he  that  de- 
fraudeth  a  laborer  of  his  hire  is  a  blood-shedder. " 
Certainly,  therefore,  the  Jews  were  not  without  ex- 
plicit teaching  on  this  vital  point  of  elemental  social 
justice. 

And  yet  these  men  "who  mowed"  {ayqodvT^v,  lit- 
erally, "heap  together")1  their  fields  had  the  sad 
experience  of  not  receiving  the  wages,  "of  you  kept 
back  by  fraud"  (6  d<pvarf.prjiievo^  a<p'  v^uyv),  "comes  too 
late  from  you"  (Mayor).  The  word  means  to  "fall 
short,"  "be  too  late"  (vcrrepEO)  is  like  vorepov,  "later"). 
Note  Heb.  3:1    {voTtpTjutvai) .     See  P.  Lond.   116613 

1  At  harvest  time  there  is  always  special  demand  for  laborers  at 
higher  wages  than  usual  to  save  the  ripe  grain  before  it  perishes. 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  233 

(A.  D.  42)  for  the  very  word  (a^voTepq)  used  of  "a 
bath  insufficiently  warmed"  (Moulton  and  Milligan, 
Vocabulary,  p.  99).  The  honest  laborers  who  form 
the  foundation  of  our  industrial  system  are  not  to  be 
treated  as  beggars  or  "hobos."  They  are  not 
subjects  for  charity.  They  are  the  human  element 
in  the  industrial  problem.  Blood  is  thicker  than 
water  and  is  more  valuable  than  gold.  The  horror 
of  war  is  that  it  treats  men  as  fodder  for  cannon 
regardless  of  the  result  to  the  man  or  those  de- 
pendent on  him. 

This  stolen  pay  "cries  out"  (upd^i)  and  ought  to 
cry  out,  whether  the  hire  is  kept  back  after  the 
work  is  done  or  whether  the  employer  purposely 
squeezes  the  laborer  down  to  starvation  wages  in 
order  to  make  more  money  for  himself.  There  is  a 
just  balance  to  be  struck  by  which  both  capital  and 
labor  may  receive  just  remuneration.  "The  cries 
of  them  that  reaped  {al  (3oai  twv  depiodvrav)  have 
entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  (elg  ra 
u)ra  Kvplov  lafiacjd  elaeXi]Xv8av) . "  "The  cries  of  the 
harvesters"  (Moffatt)  are  musical  when  they  sing 
together  as  they  work,  content  with  their  wages 
and  joyous  in  their  work.  But  the  "cries"  here 
heard  are  of  a  very  different  sort.  They  are  the 
angry,  resentful  outcries  of  men  who  have  been 
wronged  in  their  very  souls  by  those  who  should 
have  been  their  protectors  and  friends,  those  for 
whom  the  harvesters  have  worked.  These  men  cry 
to  heaven  and  they  ought  to  do  so.  Mayor  notes 
four  sins  that  cry  to  heaven-.  A  brother's  blood 
(Gen.  4:10),  the  sin  of  Sodom  (Gen.   18:20),  the 


234   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

oppressed  hireling  (Deut.  24:  15),  the  cry  of  Job 
for  justice  (16:  18L).  But  men  ought  to  hear  the 
cry  of  the  laborers  before  they  become  too  clamor- 
ous. It  is  only  right  that  social  injustice  should  be 
rectified  here  and  now  and  the  transgressors  pun- 
ished. We  have  come  upon  a  time  when  the  hosts 
of  labor  and  capital  are  like  two  armed  camps, 
ready  for  instant  battle.  Even  as  these  words  are 
penned  the  country  faces  the  spectacle  of  a  pro- 
longed war  in  the  mining  region  of  Colorado  that 
has  gone  beyond  the  power  of  the  State  authorities 
to  control  and  that  has  taxed  the  resources  of  the 
national  government  for  a  solution.  There  are 
probably  wrongs  on  both  sides.  The  State  cannot 
do  everything.  It  is  a  vain  hope  to  expect  a  millen- 
nium in  the  socialistic  State  of  the  radical  socialists, 
and  yet  much  that  is  called  socialism  is  simply 
common  humanity  and  Christian  brotherhood  taught 
by  Jesus,  chief  of  all,  and  reenforced  in  the  Epistles. 
It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  society  has  paid  more 
attention  to  the  making  of  money  than  to  the  men 
who  toil  to  make  it.  The  social  test  of  modern 
Christianity  is  to  do  justice  to  the  laboring  men 
without  doing  injustice  to  the  capitalists.  The 
conditions  of  life  must  be  made  easier.  If  corpora- 
tions have  no  souls,  the  men  who  toil  at  the  forge 
have.  Men  are  entitled  to  a  bit  of  heaven  here 
and  now  in  their  own  hearth  and  home.  Somehow 
many  of  the  laborers  have  come  to  feel  that  the 
churches  do  not  sympathize  with  the  struggles  of 
the  laboring  classes  to  better  their  hard  lot,  but 
fawn  upon  the  very  rich  who  sometimes  grind  the 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  235 

toilers  to  the  earth.  It  is  easy  to  be  extreme  and 
unjust  to  one  side  or  the  other.  The  main  thing  is 
to  be  faithful  to  God  and  man,  to  man  as  man. 
The  poorest  of  men  is  worth  more  than  a  sheep, 
yes,  and  than  gold  and  silver.  The  soul  is  without 
price  and  the  soul  dwells  in  the  body.  We  must 
shake  the  shackles  free  from  men  and  women  who 
cry  out  to  God.  The  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth  has 
heard  their  cries  and  will  punish  the  offenders  in 
due  time,  but  that  fact  does  not  absolve  us  from 
our  present  duty  in  the  midst  of  conditions  that 
call  for  action.  Wronged  workers  have  a  right  to  a 
hearing  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion.  They  will 
cry  on  till  they  are  heard. 

6.  The  Wanton  Use  of  Money.    5 :  $f. 

Evidently  James  is  all  ablaze  with  passion  as  he 
faces  the  situation  of  his  readers.  These  Jewish 
plutocrats,  some  of  them  shysters,  had  made  their 
money  out  of  the  blood  and  sweat  of  the  toiling 
poor  (cf.  modern  sweat-shops).  And  then  they 
spend  it  in  a  way  to  anger  the  wronged  workers 
still  more.  They  live  in  the  most  luxurious  ex- 
travagance and  waste  of  money  while  the  cold, 
half -naked,  hungry  toilers  who  made  the  wealth  go 
unpaid.  It  is  no  wonder  that  such  laborers  grow 
bitter  at  heart.  It  is  a  vivid  and  even  ghastly  pic- 
ture of  the  wicked  rich  who  revel  at  the  cost  of 
human  happiness,  who  with  careless  indifference 
shut  their  eyes  to  the  misery  all  around  them  due 
to  their  own  injustice.  Christianity  endeavors  to 
make  this  cold  cynicism  impossible,  to  persuade  to 


236   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

be  just  and,  if  need  be,  go  the  second  mile  in  eager- 
ness to  help  rather  than  to  hang  back  and  higgle 
over  the  first.  During  the  dreadful  days  of  the 
strike  at  Lawrence,  Mass.,  a  daughter  of  one  of 
the  wealthy  mill  owners  braved  the  criticism  of  her 
social  circle  and  boldly  went  among  the  very  men 
who  cursed  her  father  as  the  cause  of  it  all.  She 
went  as  an  angel  of  mercy  to  bind  up  the  broken 
hearts  and  lives.  "Ye  have  lived  delicately  on  the 
earth,  and  taken  your  pleasure"  (h-pv^a-re  kttt  rift 
y?7£  Kai  koTraraX^aaTe) ,  "ye  have  revelled  on  earth 
and  plunged  into  dissipation"  (Moffatt).  The 
sound  of  revelry  by  night  has  no  melody  to  the 
ears  of  the  man  whose  wife  and  children  are  starving 
because  he  does  not  get  a  square  deal  from  his 
employer.  In  Hermas  (Sim.  6.  i)  both  of  these 
verbs  are  used  together  ("reminiscence  of  this  pas- 
sage," Mayor)  of  those  who  gave  themselves  up  to 
the  lusts  of  the  world.  See  also  i  Tim.  5:6:  "She 
that  giveth  herself  to  pleasure  is  dead  while  she 
liveth."  One  is  reminded  of  the  picture  of  the 
beggar  Lazarus  who  lay  at  the  rich  man's  gate 
while  he  feasted  within.  The  conditions  will  be 
reversed  in  heaven  if  the  poor  are  Christians  and 
the  rich  man  is  unsaved  (Luke  16:  25).  That  hope 
is  not  to  be  despised,  but  James  is  not  content  to 
spare  the  rich  now  while  they  inflict  such  wrongs 
on  men  whom  they  employ. 

"Ye  have  nourished  your  hearts  in  a  day  of 
slaughter"  (kdpeipaTe  rag  /capd/a?  v/uov  kv  fy/epa  oQayjft). 
We  have  here  a  hard  phrase  to  understand.  Homer 
uses  the  verb    (rpe^w)  of  turning  milk  into  cheese 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  237 

(Od.  ix.  246).  But  we  cannot  feel  sure  (cf.  Luke 
21:34).  And  what  is  "the  day  of  slaughter"? 
Moffatt  boldly  renders  thus:  "You  have  fattened 
yourselves  as  for  the  Day  of  Slaughter."  That  is  at 
least  comprehensible.  At  any  rate,  when  Jerusalem 
was  destroyed  the  Romans  slew  the  rich  Jews  indis- 
criminately whether  they  remained  in  the  city  or 
flew  in  despair  to  the  Romans  who  were  bent  on 
plunder  (cf.  Josephus,  War,  v.  10,  2).  The  pious 
poor  in  all  the  ages  have  suffered  at  the  hands  of 
the  rich  and  the  mighty.  Even  in  America  religious 
liberty  came  as  the  result  of  fierce  struggle.  Political 
freedom  was  bought  with  the  price  of  blood.  Eco- 
nomic justice  will  be  won  only  by  tears  and  blood. 

The  very  limit  is  reached.  "Ye  have  condemned, 
ye  have  killed  the  righteous  one;  he  doth  not  resist 
you"  (icaTediitdoaTe,  kipovevoare  tov  diiccuov.  Ovk  avTirdo- 
atrai  vfilv).  Many  take  these  words  to  refer  to  the 
death  of  Jesus  as  the  culmination  of  iniquity  when 
the  rich  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  obtained  the  death 
of  the  poor  Carpenter  of  Nazareth.  Peter  charged 
the  Jews  with  Christ's  death  in  these  words:  "But 
ye  denied  the  Holy  and  Righteous  One,  and  asked 
for  a  murderer  to  be  granted  unto  you,  and  killed 
the  Prince  of  Life"  (Acts  3:  14L).  Certainly  the 
application  to  Jesus  has  a  deal  of  verisimilitude. 
Stephen  used  similar  language:  "And  they  killed 
them  which  showed  before  the  coming  of  the  Right- 
eous One;  of  whom  ye  have  now  become  betrayers 
and  murderers"  (Acts  7:52).  "The  Righteous  One" 
(6  61*010$)  is  thus  seen  to  be  one  of  the  titles  given 
Jesus  by  the  early  disciples.     There  is  no  reason 


238   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

why  James  should  not  have  referred  to  the  death 
of  Jesus  in  these  words.  But  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
has  similar  language  about  the  righteous  poor  who 
are  oppressed  by  the  wicked  rich  and  the  parallel  is 
so  clear  that  probably  James  refers  directly  to  it. 
See  Wisdom  2:ioff. :  "Let  us  oppress  the  poor 
righteous  man;  let  us  not  spare  the  widow,  nor 
reverence  the  ancient  grey  hairs  of  the  aged.  .  .  . 
Let  us  lie  in  wait  for  the  righteous;  because  he  is 
not  for  our  turn,  and  he  is  clear  contrary  to  our 
doings;  he  upbraideth  us  with  our  offending  the 
law."  It  was  so  in  the  days  of  the  prophets.  Hear 
Amos  as  he  thunders  against  the  evils  of  his  day. 
"They  have  sold  the  righteous  for  silver,  and  the 
needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes;  they  that  pant  after  the 
dust  of  the  earth  on  the  head  of  the  poor"  (surely 
the  most  greedy  of  men  for  real  estate,  if  they  even 
seek  that  on  top  of  the  head  of  the  poor!).  The 
picture  is  one  of  the  oppression  of  the  good  man 
who  is  unresisting  and  allows  himself  to  be  robbed. 
The  horrors  of  war  to  helpless  women  and  children 
come  before  us. 

It  is  curious  that  in  the  legendary  account1  of  the 
death  of  James,  who  was  later  called  also  "the  Just" 
(6  dixaiog),  we  are  told  that  the  Jews  ran  upon  James 
crying:  "Oh!  oh!  even  the  righteous  one  has  gone 
astray — let  us  stone  the  righteous  one"  (w  &  itai  b 

diKaiog  h-nXavi)dr] — \tQaou\Ltv  tov   diitaiov).       One   of   the 

priests  vainly  cried  out:  "Stop!  What  are  you 
doing?  The  righteous  one  is  praying  for  you." 
According  to  this  story,  James  himself  finally  met 

1  Eusebius,  H.  E.  ii.  23  (taken  from  Hegesippus). 


GOD  AND  BUSINESS  239 

the  very  fate  of  those  unfortunate  victims  of  Jew- 
ish greed  and  hate  of  whom  Jesus  is  the  chief  illus- 
tration. Progress  in  behalf  of  human  rights  is  won 
only  by  slow  advances  here  and  there.  But  in  the 
end  of  the  day  the  cause  wins.  The  stars  in  their 
courses  fight  against  Sisera  and  all  the  enemies  of 
man  and  God. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Perseverance  and  Prayer.     5:7-20 

The  purpose  of  James  in  writing  his  Epistle  comes 
out  clearly  here.  He  wishes  to  hearten  the  Jewish 
Christians  in  the  midst  of  their  trials  as  well  as  to 
make  a  protest  against  the  oppressions  to  which 
they  were  subjected.  "The  storm  of  indignation  is 
past,  and  from  this  point  to  the  end  of  the  Epistle 
St.  James  writes  in  tones  of  tenderness  and  affec- 
tion" (Plummer).  He  has  denounced  the  persecu- 
tors, and  now  turns  to  the  brethren  who  are  under 
the  heel  of  the  money -devil. 

1.  Patience  Till  the  Parousia.    5:  7L 

"Be  patient  therefore,  brethren,  until  the  coming 
of  the  Lord"  (fiatcpodviiTJaare  ovv,  adeX<poi,  "ug  rr/g  trapov- 
oiag  tov  Kvqiov).1  Moffatt  has  it  "till  the  arrival  of 
the  Lord."  The  example  of  the  righteous  man, 
whether  Christ  or  the  typical  righteous  poor  man, 
argues  (ovv)  strongly  for  longsuffering  (fiaKQo-dvftecj  is 
"long-tempered"  like  our  "sweet-tempered,"  "quick- 
tempered," and  is  the  opposite  of  "short-tempered," 
so  Mayor) .  In  the  Christian  race  one  cannot  afford 
to  be  short  of  wind.  He  has  a  long  run  and  must 
hold  out  till  the  goal  is  reached  (cf.  Heb.  12:  1-3). 


1  In  P.  Par.  26,  B.  C.   163,  note  ev  Mt//0«  irapovoiac  ("visits  to 
Memphis"). 

240 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       241 

*  One  is  reminded  of  the  opening  note  of  the  Epistle 
of  James  (1 :  2-4),  where  he  urged  joy  in  the  midst 
of  varied  trials.  The  wicked  rich  deserve  all  the 
fierce  denunciation  that  James  has  just  bestowed 
and  all  the  penalty  that  God  will  inflict,  but  the 
suffering  Christians  must  not  engage  in  mere  re- 
crimination. James  does  not  discourage  protest 
against  wrong  nor  the  effort  to  remove  evil.  But 
there  is  a  residuum  of  suffering  and  pain  in  the  cup 
of  all  of  us.  When  all  else  is  done,  in  the  end  of  the 
day  we  must  drink  that  cup.  Let  us  do  it  with  the 
spirit  of  soldiers  who  fall  in  the  trenches  at  the  post 
of  duty.  It  is  better  to  do  it  without  flinching  and 
without  making  a  wry  face.  Men  (and  even  women) 
have  undergone  major  operations  without  anes- 
thesia. God  is  full  of  "longsuffering"  toward  us 
(Rom.  2:451  Pet.  3:20),  and  men  have  shown  the 
same  spirit  (James  5 :  10;  2  Cor.  6:6).  The  patience 
in  James  1 :  3L  is  just  "remaining  under"  (vnoiiovrj) , 
but  here  the  point  is  to  do  it  and  make  no  fuss  about 
it,  not  to  call  attention  to  what  one  is  suffering,  to 
be  a  martyr  without  insisting  on  being  recognized  as 
one. 

The  early  Christians  were  so  eager  for  the  second 
coming  (napovoia)  of  the  Lord  Jesus  that  they  were 
impatient  for  his  return  and  some  of  them  com- 
pletely upset  about  it,  though  Jesus  had  emphasized 
the  utter  uncertainty  of  the  time  and  had  urged 
watchfulness  and  readiness.  By  a  skilful  turn 
(Plummer)  James  "makes  the  unconscious  impa- 
tience of  primitive  Christianity  a  basis  for  his 
exhortation  to  conscious  patience."     Some  of  them 


242   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

no  longer  had  a  taste  for  the  slow  work  of  plowing, 
sowing,  and  reaping,  forgetting  what  Jesus  had  said 
of  the  gradual  growth  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  from 
seed  to  harvest.  So  James,  probably  with  the  words 
of  Jesus  in  mind,  says:  "Behold,  the  husbandman 
waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the  earth"  {l6oi> 
6  ygwpydf  huSix8™  r°v  Tiituov  Kapnov  tt}$  yijg).  The 
farmer,  tiller  of  the  soil  (yewpydf),  has  much  to  dis- 
courage him  in  the  making  and  selling  of  his  crops. 
The  soil  has  to  be  kept  up  to  its  level  of  fertility 
and  must  be  properly  prepared.  The  seed  must  be 
of  good  quality  and  has  to  be  sown  at  the  proper 
season.  The  weeds  will  come  and  the  harvest  is 
dependent  on  the  sun  and  the  rain.  He  cannot 
hasten  the  process.  When  he  has  done  the  most 
scientific  farming,  he  can  only  wait  in  expectancy 
(t/£<j£££T<M,  note  Ik).1  Often,  perhaps  daily,  the  farmer 
goes  and  watches  the  growth  of  the  grain,  "being 
patient  over  it"  (naKpodv/iuv  'm'  avrCi),  bending  over  it 
as  a  fond  father.  He  knows  that  he  cannot  hasten 
the  season.  The  "early"  rain  (npoiftov)  made  pos- 
sible the  sowing  of  the  seed.  The  "latter"  rain 
(uxpinov)  will  make  possible  a  harvest.  Meanwhile  he 
can  do  nothing  but  wait  "till  it  receive"  (ew?  x&Pv) 
the  final  touch  from  God's  hand.  By  force  of  cir- 
cumstances the  farmer  has  to  exercise  long-suffering 
toward  his  crop  of  wheat. 

"Be  ye  also  patient"  (iiaKpodvfiTJaare  mi  vfitl^). 
James  applies  his  illustration  with  directness  and 
power.    "Ye  also,"  as  well  as  the  husbandman.    He 

1  Note  P.   Oxy.,  939  (iv/A.   D.),  line  27,  iK&o~r/{  u/jac  indextyevot 
tt/v  [o]?)i>  ty/l-iv  ("hourly  expecting  thy  arrival"). 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       243 

does  it,  for  nature  has  taught  him  her  secrets.  "Ye" 
should  do  so,  for  Jesus  has  shown  you  the  way. 
"Establish  your  hearts"  (arrjpi^aTe  rag  tcapdiag  v/itiv). 
Peter  is  charged  with  just  this  task  when  he  has 
turned  (Luke  22:32).  God  strengthens  us  (1  Pet. 
5:  10;  1  Thess.  3:  13),  but  we  must  do  our  share. 
"For  the  coming  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand"  (ore  ^ 
■napovoia  tov  Kvpiov  rfyy 1  kev)  .  The  word  "is  at  hand" 
{fp/yutev)  is  the  one  that  John  the  Baptist  used  of 
the  nearness  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  which  had 
come  right  upon  them  (Matt.  3:2).  So  Peter  (1  Pet. 
4:7)  says:  "The  end  of  all  things  has  drawn  near." 
Paul  (Phil.  4:  6)  says:  "The  Lord  is  nigh"  (or  near). 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  early  Christians  hoped 
that  Jesus  would  come  back  quickly  and  thus  re- 
lieve them  from  the  ills  of  an  impossible  social 
system  (Rom.  13:11;  1  Cor.  15:5;  1  Thess.  4:15; 

1  John  2:  18).  But  they  did  not  at  all  feel  sure 
that  Jesus  was  coming  right  away  (1  Thess.  5:2; 

2  Thess.  3:  iff.;  2  Cor.  5:1-10;  Phil.  1:21-23). 
When  2  Peter  is  written  scoffers  are  already  asking, 
"Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming?"  (2  Pet.  3:4.) 
The  answer  is  given  that  one  day  with  the  Lord  is  as 
a  thousand  years  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day. 
Back  to  their  tasks  they  must  go,  back  to  the 
building  up  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  midst  of 
a  world  of  woe  and  sin,  on  with  the  conflict  till 
Jesus  comes,  on  with  the  long  siege  against  human 
greed  and  inhumanity  to  man.  Patience  is  the 
word,  patience  and  prayer,  pluck  and  praise,  power 
and  peace  in  the  end. 


244   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

2.  Folly  of  Recrimination.     5:9. 

If  things  do  not  go  to  suit  us,  the  natural  way  is 
to  blame  somebody  else  for  what  has  befallen  us. 
We  generally  exculpate  ourselves  from  all  responsi- 
bility. There  is  a  naive  illustration  of  this  propen- 
sity in  John  12:19:  "Behold,  ye  prevail  nothing; 
lo,  the  world  is  gone  after  him."  At  the  Triumphal 
Entry  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem  the  Pharisees,  thinking 
that  their  cause  against  Jesus  is  lost,  turn  and  blame 
each  other  for  the  outcome.  So  then  "murmur  not, 
brethren,  one  against  another"  (p)  orevd&re,  ddeX^oi, 
Kar'  aXXrjXuv) .  Literally  it  is,  "groan  not,  brothers, 
against  one  another."  See  Rom.  8:23:  "We  our- 
selves groan  (arevd^onev)  within  ourselves."  It  is 
rather  the  inward  and  unexpressed  feeling  than  the 
outward  expression  of  dissatisfaction  (cf.  James  4: 
11).  The  secret  grudge  is  taken  out  in  groans  and 
murmurs.  In  Mark  7:34  Jesus  is  said  to  have 
groaned  (toTeva&v)  as  he  looked  up  to  heaven  and 
prayed,  perhaps  out  of  sheer  weariness  at  the  burden 
of  sin  and  sorrow  that  was  upon  him.  It  is  hard  to 
be  content  and  to  smother  resentment  at  known  or 
suspected  wrong.  The  suppressed  volcano  may  eas- 
ily break  out  into  a  violent  eruption.  "They  will 
run  here  and  there  for  meat,  and  grudge  if  they  be 
not  satisfied"  (Psa.  59:  15).  The  murmur  of  a  mob 
is  often  senseless,  and  in  all  events  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  we  bring  down  condemnation  on  our  own 
heads.  "That  ye  be  not  judged"  (iva  fir)  Kpidqre),  says 
James.  He  recurs  to  this  point  in  5 :  12.  Probably 
the  words  of  Jesus  in  Matt.  7 :  1  are  recalled  by 
James.      "Behold,   the   judge  standeth   before   the 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       245 

doors"  (idov  6  KQirrjc,  Trpd  T(hv  6vpiG)v  eoT7]Kev).  He  will 
hear  all  complaints  and  set  everything  right.  The 
picture  appears  to  be  that  in  the  Mishna  (A  b.  iv. 
16):  "This  world  is  as  if  it  were  a  vestibule  to  the 
future  world;  prepare  thyself  in  the  vestibule,  that 
thou  mayest  enter  the  reception  room."  Jesus  is 
the  Judge  who  stands  at  the  Door  through  which 
all  must  pass.  The  conception  is  eschatological  and 
apocalyptic.  See  Matt.  24:33:  "Know  ye  that  he 
is  nigh,  at  the  doors"  (sni  dvpai^.  In  Rev.  3:20 
Jesus  is  represented  as  saying:  "Behold,  I  stand  at 
the  door  and  knock."  Let  him  in  now,  that  you 
and  he  may  sup  together.  Let  him  in  now,  else 
you  may  stand  before  him  hereafter  as  culprit  and 
helpless  and  hopeless.  "Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be 
angry,  and  ye  perish  in  the  way"  (Psa.  2:12). 
Treat  kindly  one  another  so  that  you  will  not  need 
the  Son  to  act  as  Judge  between  you. 

3 .  Examples  of  Patience.    5 :  1  of . 

James,  like  a  practical  preacher,  loves  to  illus- 
trate his  points.  He  has  a  fitting  one  right  to  hand 
in  "the  prophets  who  spake  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord"  {rovg  TTQo<priTag,  01  khdXrjoav  kv  ra  bvofiarc  Kvplov). 
They  spoke  in  the  name,  with  the  authority,  and  so 
with  the  power  of  the  Lord.  The  idiom  is  common 
enough  in  the  Septuagint  and,  indeed,  in  the  papyri 
(Deissmann,  Bible  Studies,  p.  198).  They  spoke  as 
the  representatives  of  Jehovah.  Mayor  seems  a 
bit  perplexed  over  the  failure  of  James  to  mention 
Jesus  as  the  supreme  example  of  suffering,  as  is 
done  by  Peter  (1  Pet.  2:  21),  who  spoke  of  Christ 


246   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

leaving  us  an  example  (vnoypaniiov) ,  and  by  Paul 
(Phil.  2:  5-1 1),  and  by  the  author  of  Hebrews  (12: 
1-5).  Perhaps  James  may  have  thought  it  was 
particularly  pertinent  for  these  Jewish  Christians  to 
be  reminded  of  the  prophets  as  an  "example  of  suf- 
fering and  patience"  (vTrofoiyfia  rfjg  Ka/co-nadiag  mi  rfjg 
fiaKQoBvficag) .  Certainly,  they  endured  evil  (/ca/corrafl/a) 
in  abundance  and  had  great  need  of  long-suffering 
(lianQodvfiia) .  It  was  common  enough  to  appeal  to 
them  for  this  purpose.  Jesus  did  it  with  keenest 
irony  at  the  mock  heroic  monuments  built  later  to 
the  memory  of  the  martyred  prophets  (Matt.  5:  12; 
23:34»  37)-  Stephen  did  it  with  so  sharp  a  tongue 
that  the  Sanhedrin  stoned  him  to  death  for  his 
courage  and  proved  the  truth  of  his  words  by  their 
own  acts  (Acts  7:52).  Elijah  says  to  Jehovah: 
"The  children  of  Israel  .  .  .  have  slain  thy  prophets 
with  the  sword"  (1  Kings  19:  10,  14).  Jeremiah 
says  also:  "Your  own  sword  hath  devoured  your 
prophets  like  a  destroying  lion"  (Jer.  2:30).  As 
patterns  of  patience  "take"  (XdfteTe)  Noah,  Abra- 
ham, Jacob,  Moses,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah.  These  illus- 
trate in  various  ways  the  patience  of  which  the 
readers  of  the  Epistle  of  James  stand  in  sore  need. 

"Behold,  we  call  them  blessed  that  endured"  (ISnv 
liaKo.pi^o[iev  rovg  vTrofitivavraq) .  He  had  already  done 
that  in  James  1 :  12.  Jesus  had  promised  salvation 
to  the  one  who  endured  to  the  end  (Matt.  24:  13). 
Men  usually  felicitate  the  survivors  of  a  catastrophe. 
Often  they  become  popular  heroes. 

In  particular,  "ye  have  heard  of  the  patience  of 
Job"  (ttjv  vnofiovTiv  'Iw/3  rjicovoaTe) .     Job  was  the  most 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       247 

frequently  quoted  instance  in  the  Old  Testament 
times  and  is  a  perfectly  obvious  one  for  James. 
And  yet  Job  did  have  passionate  outbursts  of  indig- 
nation at  the  jibes  and  superfluous  advice  of  his  tor- 
menting friends  and  even  of  his  wife  when  God 
seemed  to  have  deserted  him.  But  it  must  be 
remembered  Job  did  not  curse  God  and  die.  He 
waited  for  God  to  speak  and  make  it  all  plain.  Job 
hardly  exhibited  longsuffering  (jiaicpodviua),  but  he 
clearly  did  show  patience  (imofiovrj) .  He  was  not 
exactly  meek,  but  he  revealed  the  endurance  of  a 
sensitive  man.  Though  Job  is  the  most  famous 
instance  of  patience  in  the  Old  Testament,  yet  he 
is  nowhere  else  cited  as  such  in  the  New  Testament. 
We  need  not  discuss  the  question  whether  Job  is  par- 
able or  fact,  as  the  point  is  here  precisely  the  same. 
Ye  "have  seen  the  end  of  the  Lord,  how  that  the 
Lord  is  full  of  pity,  and  merciful"  (to  reXog  Kvpiov 
elders,  otl  TrokvonXayxvog  Iotiv  6  ttvpiog  mi  oi/mp/zwv) . 
The  outcome  in  the  case  of  Job  proves  the  point. 
It  turned  out  all  right  with  Job.  So  he  illustrates 
the  pity  and  mercy  of  the  Lord;  "the  end  of  the 
Lord"  is  seen  in  the  conclusion  like  a  novel  that 
turns  out  happily  at  last.  In  the  midst  of  the 
stress  and  storm  of  Job's  life  (Sturm  und  Drang) 
and  his  violent  outbursts  of  emotion  and  exalted 
feeling  God  is  sympathetic  (TroXvanlayxvog)  and  com- 
passionate (oIktlqluov)  .  God  has  understood  Job 
and  watched  his  endurance  all  the  while.  The 
story  is  so  well  known  that  James  does  not  have  to 
tell  it,  but  can  depend  upon  his  readers  to  see  the 
point  of  the  illustration. 


248   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

4.  Profanity.     5:12. 

This  little  paragraph  seems  to  come  in  rather 
abruptly,  with  no  connection  with  what  precedes. 
As  a  result,  Oesterley  regards  it  as  "a  fragment  of  a 
larger  piece"  which  James  here  tears  from  its  con- 
text, perhaps  a  saying  from  Jesus.  But  Plummer 
is  more  likely  correct  in  thinking  of  it  as  an  appen- 
dix after  rounding  out  the  Epistle,  coming  back  to 
the  blessedness  of  trial  with  which  topic  the  Epistle 
opens.  The  exhortations  need  not  have  a  close 
connection  with  each  other.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
James  has  spoken  more  against  the  sins  of  speech 
than  any  other  single  sin.  Plummer  well  says:  "He 
has  spoken  against  talkativeness,  unrestrained  speak- 
ing, love  of  correcting  others,  railing,  cursing,  boast- 
ing, murmuring"  (1:19,  26;  3:  1-12;  4:  11,  13; 
5:9).  He  now  recurs  to  the  sins  of  speech  to  say  a 
few  words  against  one  of  the  commonest  evils  of 
which  he  has  not  spoken  specifically.  He  evidently 
is  thinking  of  the  words  of  Jesus  as  we  have  them  in 
Matt.  5  :  34-37,  though  it  is  not  an  exact  quotation.1 
He  may,  indeed,  as  Resch  holds,  give  another  ver- 
sion of  the  same  logion  (cf.  2  Cor.  1 :  17).  But  there 
was  ample  ground  for  this  prohibition,  as  the  Jews 
had  learned  how  to  split  hairs  on  the  subject  of 
profanity.  The  third  commandment  was  plain 
enough  on  the  subject  and  it  was  supported  by  the 
Pharisees  and  the  Essenes.     The  Essenes,  indeed, 


1  Plummer  notes  that  the  Epistle  of  James  shows  more  coinci- 
dences with  the  words  of  Jesus  than  all  of  Paul's  epistles,  and  that 
all  of  them  deal  with  the  morality  of  the  gospel,  with  conduct  and 
life.    This  is  all  just  as  the  circumstances  would  lead  us  to  expect. 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       249 

opposed  all  oaths,  even  before  courts,  and  were  said 
to  have  been  excused  by  Herod  from  taking  the 
oath  of  allegiance  (Jos.,  Ant.  xv.  10.  4).  And  yet, 
as  Mayor  notes,  this  is  not  consistent  with  the  oath 
of  initiation  which  the  Essenes  took  (Jos.,  War  ii. 
8.  7).  The  Jewish  view  is  well  represented  by 
Sirach  23:  7-11  and  by  Philo  (M.  2,  p.  184).  The 
early  Christians  found  trouble  with  this  verse  of 
James,  as  with  the  words  of  Jesus  on  the  same 
point.  See  list  of  quotations  from  the  early  writers 
in  Mayor.  Augustine  sees  no  harm  in  oaths  before 
courts  if  it  were  not  for  the  danger  of  committing 
perjury.  And  yet  it  may  be  seriously  questioned  if 
Jesus  or  James  is  thinking  of  oaths  in  courts  of 
justice,  since  Jesus  himself  did  not  refuse  to  answer 
when  put  on  oath  by  the  high  priest  before  the 
Sanhedrin  (Matt.  26:63^).  Besides,  solemn  assev- 
eration is  allowed  in  the  Old  Testament  (Deut. 
6:  13;  10:  20;  Psa.  65:  16).  It  is  far  more  likely  the 
flippant  use  of  oaths  (profanity)  that  is  here  con- 
demned. There  were,  and  are  still,  alas,  all  sorts  of 
devices  by  which  more  or  less  pious  people  felt 
justified  in  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  in 
ordinary  speech.  It  is  to-day  one  of  the  saddest 
things  in  life  to  note  how  common  profanity  is  in  the 
ordinary  speech  of  men  and  of  boys,  mannish  boys 
who  imitate  the  men  about  them.  It  is  positively 
disheartening  to  hear  it  on  the  streets,  in  the  street- 
cars, in  the  trains. 

If  one  is  puzzled,  as  was  Augustine,  over  the 
words  "above  all  things"  (npd  navruv),  on  the  ground 
that   profanity   is   not   worse   than   adultery   and 


250   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

murder,  we  may  take  it  either  as  a  kind  of  hyperbole 
(as  Augustine)  or  as  a  sort  of  "elative"  superlative 
(not  literally  before  all,  but  only  "very  important") 
as  limited  to  the  forms  of  impatience  in  the  preceding 
context  like  i  Pet.  4:  8,  where  the  same  idiom  (vpn 
ttcLvtuv)  occurs  (so  Mayor).  But,  if  the  strict  inter- 
pretation be  insisted  on,  one  has  only  to  consider 
what  the  sin  of  profanity  really  is.  It  is  a  blasphe- 
mous use  of  the  name  of  the  Most  High  God.  The 
fact  that  it  is  usually  done  without  thinking  miti- 
gates the  offense,  but  sometimes  the  full  bitterness 
of  profanity  is  meant.  Few  things  are  worse  than 
sulphurous  speech  like  the  very  fumes  of  hell.  For 
my  part,  I  should  not  press  the  words  "above  all 
things"  too  far  in  this  context. 

"Swear  not,  neither  by  the  heaven,  nor  by  the 
earth,  nor  by  any  other  oath"  (/*??  dfivvere,  urjre  ibv 

ovpavov  \vf\TZ  ttjv  yrjv  firjre  dXXov  riva  oqkov).1  Cer- 
tainly this  is  plain  enough  to  be  understood.  It  is 
conclusive  and  inclusive  and  leaves  no  room  for  the 
milder  forms  of  profanity  for  which  Christians 
sometimes  excuse  themselves.  "But  let  your  yea 
be  yea,  and  your  nay,  nay"  (rjro)  Si  v^v  to  No/  vai 
Kal  to  Ov  ov),  "let  your  'yes'  be  a  plain  'yes,'  your 
'no'  a  plain  'no'  "  (Moffatt).  This,  and  nothing 
more.     But   there  is   the  trouble.     The  need   for 


1  The  use  of  the  present  imperative  in  prohibition  rather  than 
the  aorist  subjunctive  implies  that  the  thing  was  being  done.  That 
is  probably  true,  for  church  members  have  been  known  to  be  guilty 
of  this  sin.  However,  it  is  possible  for  this  tense  to  prohibit  the 
habit  rather  than  the  single  act.  "Keep  on  not  swearing."  See 
Robertson,  Grammar  of  the  Greek  N.  T.  in  the  Light  of  Hist.  Res., 
p.  851-854. 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       251 

emphasis  and  the  love  of  strong  assertion  lead  one 
so  easily  to  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  good  taste 
and  of  decency.  Edersheim  (i.  p.  583)  has  a  Midrash 
quotation:  "The  good  man's  yea  is  yea,  and  his  nay 
nay."  In  calmer  moments  one  knows  that  the 
value  of  his  statement  rests  at  bottom  on  his  own 
character  for  veracity.  His  mere  word  is  enough 
and,  in  truth,  all  that  one  can  offer.  Violent  ex- 
pletives throw  discredit  on  one's  ordinary  state- 
ments and  suspicion  on  the  one  that  he  seeks  to 
bolster  up  with  artificial  means.  Profanity  is  one 
of  the  worst  and  most  useless  of  sins.  It  brings 
good  to  none  and  harm  to  all,  in  particular  to  the 
one  who  uses  it.  "That  ye  fall  not  under  judgment" 
(Jva  pi)  vnd  kqIolv  neoTjTe).  The  Judge  is  at  the  door 
(James  5 :  9)  and  there  is  no  escape. 

5.  Worship  and  Excitement.    5:  13. 

Plummer  has  a  very  keen  and  pertinent  heading 
for  his  chapter  on  this  verse,  and  it  is  noteworthy 
that  he  devotes  an  entire  chapter  to  this  one  verse, 
a  verse  that  is  little  understood  by  most  interpre- 
ters. His  heading  is  this:  "Worship  the  Best  Outlet 
and  Remedy  for  Excitement.  The  Connection  be- 
tween Worship  and  Conduct."  Certainly  oaths  are 
not  the  way  to  express  one's  emotions,  whether  one 
be  angry  or  merely  excited,  least  of  all  when  one 
has  the  miserable  habit  of  profanity  and  is  unaware 
of  his  foul  speech.  And  yet  it  is  not  wrong  to  ex- 
press one's  feelings.  There  is  no  merit  in  the  self- 
repression  of  the  Cynic  or  the  Stoic.  "Let  the 
expression  of  strongly  excited  feelings  be  an  act  of 


252   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

worship"  (Plummer).  This  is  an  intensely  practical 
point.  "Is  any  among  you  suffering?"  (KaKonadel 
rig  kv  vfiiv;).  And  what  church  or  community  does 
not  have  one  or  more  of  these  occasional  or  chronic 
sufferers  ?  The  word  (mno-nadu)  has  a  wider  meaning 
than  mere  bodily  sickness.  Paul  uses  it  for  suffer- 
ing hardship  as  a  good  soldier  (2  Tim.  2:3,  9;  4:  5). 
It  includes  any  kind  of  ill  of  body  or  mind.  It 
means  literally  having  had  experiences  and  refers 
to  the  natural  depression  as  a  result  of  such  mis- 
fortunes. The  remedy  is  not  in  despondency  or  in 
suicide.  The  remedy  lies  in  prayer.  "Let  him 
pray"  (npooevxeodu) ,  let  him  pray  as  a  habit  (present 
tense  of  durative  action).  Prayer  is  a  blessing  to 
the  heart  and  to  the  mental  life.  It  is  good  to  talk 
with  God.  The  worry  disappears  in  God's  presence 
and  often  the  very  ill  itself  disappears.  But  if  it 
does  not  go,  he  gives  us  grace  sufficient  to  bear  the 
burden.  So  then  prayer  is  the  proper  outlet  for  the 
depressed  Christian.  Here  lies  one  of  the  great 
blessings  of  public  worship  in  the  house  of  God. 
The  tired  soul  finds  rest  in  prayer  in  the  house  of 
prayer.  There  is  comfort  in  secret  prayer  and  in 
family  worship,  but  the  man  makes  a  tremendous 
psychological  blunder  who  cuts  himself  off  from  the 
spiritual  tonic  of  the  public  worship  of  God.  Those 
in  charge  of  that  worship  should  never  fail  to  have 
such  in  mind — such  spirits  who  come  to  church 
seeking  comfort  and  strength. 

But  some  hearts  are  overjoyed  and  feel  like  giving 
expression  to  their  joy  in  unusual  ways,  almost  in 
ecstasy.      "Is  any  cheerful?"  (evdvfiel  rig]).     There 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       253 

are  many  in  happy  mood,  in  good  spirits  or  "good 
cheer"    (cf.   Acts   27:22,    25).     These  are  in  good 
health  of  soul   and   mayhap   also  of  body.      "Let 
him   sing   praise"  (ipaXMroj).     The  word   originally 
meant  to  play  on  a  stringed  instrument  (Sir.  9:4), 
but  it  comes  to  be  used  also  for  singing  with  the 
voice  and  the  heart   (Eph.    5:19;   1    Cor.    14:15), 
making  melody  with  the  heart  also  to  the  Lord. 
There  is  a  wondrous  exaltation  of  soul  in  the  public 
praise   of    God.     The   combination   of   instruments 
and  of  voice  enables  the  soul  of  man  to  pour  itself 
out  toward  God  in  richness  of  praise.     This  is  far 
better   than   the   reckless,    unrestrained   ecstasy   of 
overwrought  emotionalism.     Plummer  notes  prop- 
erly that  there   is   no  merit   or  demerit   per  se  in 
excitement.     The  wild  dervish  commands  only  as- 
tonishment,  not   sympathy.     Religious   excitement 
may  become  the  occasion  of  bringing  discredit  upon 
Christianity,    even   when   it   represents  real  fervor 
and   an   element   of   worship.     The  spirit   of  man 
cannot  always  be  restrained.     Under  the  preaching 
of  Wesley  and  Whitefield  the  audiences  were  some- 
times carried  to  excesses  of  emotion.    But  far  better 
this  than  the  deadness  and  coldness  of  mere  formal- 
ism.    Revivals  occasionally  have  been  marked  by 
such  excesses,  like  the  "Jerks"  in  Kentucky  a  hundred 
years  ago,  when,  however,  real  change  of  life  took 
place.    There  is  wisdom  in  the  words  of  James  here. 
Let  the  religious  emotions  find  expression  in  prayer 
and  praise.     The  effect  is  not  only  good  for  the 
moment,  but  is  good  for  conduct  and  life  as  a  whole. 
If  we  could  only  manage  somehow  to  turn  some  of 


254  PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

the  energy  that  goes  into  dancing  into  religious 
worship,  certainly  the  effect  would  be  more  whole- 
some all  round.  People  cannot  help  a  measure  of 
excitement.  Some  of  it  is  good  for  them.  There  is 
tonic  in  communion  with  God,  tonic  for  soul  and 
body. 

6.  God  and  Medicine.    5:14-18. 

Few  subjects  have  excited  more  interest  in  recent 
years  than  the  subject  here  presented.  So  many 
subsidiary  issues  are  raised  that  it  is  difficult  to 
treat  the  question  adequately  in  a  few  pages.  The 
career  of  Alexander  Dowie,  with  his  work  at  Zion 
City,  is  still  fresh  in  the  mind  of  the  public.  The 
man  undoubtedly  performed  some  wonderful  cures, 
but  turned  out  to  be  a  mountebank  if  not  worse. 
Many  varieties  of  "faith-cures"  have  been  before 
the  world.  The  so-called  Christian  Science  move- 
ment is  now  the  most  prominent  of  them  all,  com- 
bining an  idealistic  philosophy  and  pantheistic 
religion.  This  combination  takes  up  various  as- 
pects of  Buddhism,  Gnosticism,  and  a  dash  of 
Christian  verbiage,  with  the  vital  elements  of 
Christianity  gone,  and  uses  some  of  the  well-known 
ideas  of  modern  psychology  as  to  the  influence  of 
the  mind  on  the  body.?  As  a  whole  it  is  a  hopeless 
jumble  of  absurdities  and  inconsistencies  and  is 
hostile  to  the  worship  of  Jesus.  'It  leads  astray  a 
certain  type  of  mind  without  clear  reasoning  proc- 
esses and  fattens  on  the  fees  for  mental  healing,  a 
portion  of  which  go  to  the  Mother  Church  in  Bos- 
ton.     There   is  only   the   most   superficial   parallel 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       255 

between  what  James  here  describes  and  what  the 
Christian  Science  "healer"  practises.  There  is  in 
James  an  absence  of  all  mercenary  ideas.  There  is 
no  "commercialized  use  of  prayer,"  to  use  the  legal 
phrase  of  one  of  the  New  York  courts.  There  is 
also  the  use  of  olive  oil,  /the  best  medicine  known 
to  the  ancient  world,  and  still  one  of  the  best  re- 
medial agencies,  whether  used  internally  or  ex- 
ternally. The  disciples  of  Jesus  on  their  tour  of 
Galilee  had  the  double  ministry  of  preaching  and 
healing  (Matt.  10:  7L)  and  they  anointed  the  sick 
with  oil  (Mark  6:  13).  In  Isa.  1 :  6  the  prophet  says 
that  the  bruises  were  "neither  bound  up,  neither 
mollified  with  oil."  So  the  Good  Samaritan  bound 
up  the  wounds  of  the  poor  victim  of  the  robbers  and 
poured  oil  and  wine  upon  him  (Luke  10:  34). 

A  number  of  questions  come  bristling  for  discus- 
sion as  we  proceed  with  this  passage  in  James.  The 
use  of  the  word  church  (1%  eKK^riata^)  rather  than 
synagogue,  as  in  2:2,  is  to  be  observed.  The  local 
church  undoubtedly  had  a  close  kinship  to  the 
Jewish  synagogue  in  origin  and  worship.  The  very 
phrase  "elders"  (rovg  npeopvTepovs)  of  the  church 
occurs  also  in  Acts  20:  17  and  in  the  plural  like 
bishops  at  Philippi  (Phil.  1:1).  There  was  a 
council  of  elders  in  the  synagogue  (Luke  7:3),  and 
the  word  appears  in  an  official  sense  in  the  Egyptian 
papyri  (Deissmann,  Bible  Studies,  pp.  i54f.,  233L).1 
But  a  more  vital  question  for  our  subject  is  whether 
these  elders  come  in  an  official  capacity  to  perform 
an  ecclesiastical  "anointing"  (dXeiipavreg  kkaiu)  with 

1  The  phrase  6  Tvpea^irspo^  rf/g  ko>/x//c  occurs  in  a  Ptolemaic  papyrus. 


256   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

oil  or  whether  they  come  to  pray  as  brothers  in 
Christ  and  rub  with  the  olive  oil  (cf .  Isa.  i :  6)  as 
medicine.  Mayor  quotes  Philo  (Sonm,  M.  i.  666), 
Pliny  (N.  H.  xxiii.  34-50),  and  Galen  (Med.  Temp., 
Book  ii)  in  praise  of  oil  as  a  medicine.  In  Herod's 
last  illness  he  was  recommended  a  bath  of  oil  (Jos., 
War  i.  33,  5).  There  is  therefore  no  doubt  as  to  the 
ancient  opinion  about  and  use  of  oil  as  a  medicine. 
It  is  probable  that  one  will  decide  this  question 
according  to  his  predilections.  For  my  own  part, 
I  incline  to  the  view  that  we  have  here,  not  a  sacra- 
mental or  priestly  function  on  the  part  of  these 
elders,  but  the  double  duty  of  ministry  of  the  word 
and  of  medicine  (with  prayer) .  The  nearest  parallel 
in  modern  life  is  the  medical  missionary,  who  goes 
with  the  word  of  life  and  the  healing  balm  of  modern 
science.  He  heals  the  sick  with  the  physician's 
skill  and  the  prayer  of  faith.  Paul  helped  the  sick 
(Acts  20:35)  at  Ephesus  and  often  healed  the  sick, 
and  yet  he  worked  side  by  side  with  Luke,  the  be- 
loved physician,  as  in  the  island  of  Melita  (Acts  28: 
8f.).  There  is  certainly  no  indication  that  what  is 
called  "extreme  unction"  was  practised  or  urged  by 
James  and  the  Apostolic  Christians.  That  was  a 
late  development  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  Catholic 
churches  that  is  foreign  to  the  tone  of  this  Epistle. 
There  is  here  no  such  superstition  as  sending  for  a 
minister,  when  death  is  at  hand,  to  perform  a 
magical  ritual  ceremony  to  stave  off  death.  Mayor 
has  a  full  statement  of  the  chief  facts  about  the 
"sacrament"  of  unction  in  later  centuries.  Mayor 
suggests  that  the  cases  of  the  failure  of  the  simple 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       257 

use  of  oil  as  a  medicine  probably  led  finally  to  the 
special  consecration  of  the  oil  or  the  use  of  relics. 
But  in  James  we  seem  to  have  not  a  ceremony  or 
ecclesiastical  function,  but  rather  the  simple  use  of 
oil  as  a  medicine  and  prayer  "in  the  name  of  the 
Lord."  To-day  we  have  a  more  advanced  medical 
science,  which  is,  however,  by  no  means  final  and 
infallible.  We  separate  the  functions  of  the  minister 
and  the  physician.  We  prefer  the  doctor  to  the  oil, 
but  we  still  need  God  with  the  doctor.  It  is  a  great 
error  for  one  to  think  that  God  is  not  to  be  called 
upon  because  we  have  a  skilled  physician.  The 
minister  still  has  a  place,  and  a  very  important 
place,  in  the  problem  of  therapeutics,  particularly  in 
those  many  cases  of  a  more  or  less  nervous  type 
when  the  influence  of  the  mind  on  the  body  is  very 
pronounced.  Often  in  the  most  severe  illness  the 
deciding  factor  is  not  medicine,  but  hope,  as  any 
doctor  will  say.  The  minister  should  make  friends 
with  the  physician  and  be  at  his  service  and  co- 
operate with  him.  The  minister  needs  to  be  careful 
to  be  a  help,  and  not  a  hindrance,  in  cases  of  sickness. 
He  should  be  a  sedative  and  an  inspiration  to  the 
patient,  not  an  irritant  or  an  excitant.  It  is  a 
just  ground  of  complaint  that  physicians  have 
against  those  preachers  who  lend  themselves  to  the 
schemes  of  "quack"  doctors  with  patent  medicines 
for  all  sorts  of  ills. 

But  to  come  back  to  the  use  of  prayer.  James 
says:  "And  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  him  that  is 
sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up"  (/cat  ^  evxu  rr\<; 
7rlOT£u)<;   aojoei    tov   Kdfxvovra,   km    kyegel   avrbv   6   Kvptog). 


258   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

The  credit  is  here  given  to  prayer  and  the  power 
of  God.  One  is  not  to  infer  that  James  gives  no 
credit  to  medicine.  The  oil  was  good,  God  works 
through  medicines  and  without  medicine.  The  best 
that  we  still  know  on  this  subject  is  just  this: 
Prayer  and  medicine  or  God  and  the  doctor.  The 
promise  of  James  is  unconditioned,  like  those  of 
Jesus  in  Mark  11:  24;  John  14:  14.  But  the  very 
essence  of  prayer  is  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  God, 
not  a  demand  on  God's  acquiescence  with  us.  By 
"save"  (ocogec)  here  James  means  "cure,"  as  often 
in  the  Gospels  (Mark  5 :  23 ;  6 :  56 ;  8 :  35,  etc.).  The 
prayer  of  faith  is  the  only  kind  that  is  real  prayer, 
and  it  is  trust  in  God  with  full  acknowledgment 
of  God's  power  and  love.  Some  men  have  always 
had  the  idea  of  a  God  so  aloof  from  the  world  that 
he  cared  nothing  about  it  or  was  powerless  to  help. 
There  is  nothing  in  modern  scientific  knowledge  in- 
consistent with  an  immanent,  yet  transcendent,  God 
who  holds  the  key  of  life  in  himself.  The  wondrous 
laws  of  nature  are  all  of  God  and  there  are  many  more 
that  we  do  not  yet  understand.  Science  has  vastly 
increased  our  sense  of  wonder  about  God  and  his 
world.  We  have  only  skirted  the  fringes  of  knowl- 
edge. It  is  idle  to  say  that  God,  if  he  really  sent  his 
Son  to  redeem  men  from  sin  and  all  earthly  woe, 
does  not  care  if  we  suffer  in  t>ody  and  mind.  The 
Father's  hand  rests  upon  us  all.  He  can  be  reached. 
He  is  not  far  from  any  of  us  and  he  loves  us. 

"And  if  he  have  committed  sins,  it  shall  be  for- 
given him"  {tcav  anaprlag  y  ttsttol^k^,  dcpEdijoerai  avrio), 
not  by  being  healed  in  body  nor  because  he  is  healed 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       259 

of  his  sickness.  The  two  things  do  not  correspond 
nor  does  one  follow  because  of  the  other.  What 
James  means,  undoubtedly,  is  that  the  cured  man, 
convicted  of  his  sins  and  out  of  gratitude  to  God  for 
his  goodness,  repents  of  his  sins  and  is  forgiven. 
This  is  what  should  always  happen  in  such  cases, 
but  often  it  occurs  that  men  who  profess  repentance 
on  a  bed  of  sickness  forget  it  when  they  get  up. 
This  is  sheer  ingratitude  and  a  horrible  outcome. 
But  certainly,  if  the  sick  man  is  a  sinner,  he  should 
be  prayed  for.  It  is  the  time  of  opportunity  to  get 
him  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  God.  No  undue  ad- 
vantage need  be  taken  of  one's  situation,  and  yet  it 
is  wise  to  speak  plainly  then.  Sickness  is  a  great 
leveller  and  brings  us  all  down.1  Beyond  any  doubt, 
Roman  Catholics  have  made  good  use  of  their 
asylums  and  hospitals.  Other  denominations  are  be- 
ginning to  take  a  real  interest  in  this  aspect  of 
Christian  activity.  In  the  hour  of  sickness  it  is  a 
great  mercy  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  those  who  love 
God  and  where  the  love  of  Jesus  is  mingled  with 
the  highest  medical  science. 

It  is  a  good  time  to  confess  our  sins  to  one  another 
as  well  as  to  God,  when  we  fall  sick.  "Confess 
therefore  your  sins  one  to  another"  (kt-o/jioXo-ytiode 
ovv  aXkrikotq  rag  afiapriag).  Clearly  if  the  sick  man, 
conscious  now  of  his  own  weakness,  is  not  willing  to 
confess  his  sins  (trespasses,  iraga-nrd^ara,  some  MSS. 
have  it)  against  others,  God  will  not  forgive  him. 

1  Note  nav  (=  even  if)  here  instead  of  xal  kdv  and  the  rare  peri- 
phrastic perfect  subjunctive  active  y  nsnoir/Kuc.  The  condition  is 
the  third  class  (undetermined  with  prospect  of  determination). 


26o   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

As  Mayor  points  out,  James  expands  the  words  of 
Jesus  about  forgiving  those  who  have  trespassed 
against  us  (Matt.  5:  23;  6:  14),  so  as  to  bring  out 
both  sides  of  the  subject.  Let  the  sick  man  ask 
forgiveness  of  those  whom  he  has  wronged.  Then 
let  them  forgive  him  and  pray  for  him.  "Pray  one 
for  another"  («:eu  -rrpooevxeode  v-rrep  aAA^Awv).  The 
Roman  Catholics  sometimes  appeal  to  this  passage 
as  a  justification  for  auricular  confession  to  the 
priest,  Bellarmine,  for  instance,  but  Luther  has  a 
pointed  answer:  "A  strange  confessor.  His  name  is 
'One  Another.'  "  Cajetan  "speaks  the  language  of 
common  sense"  (Mayor)  and  admits  that  James  has 
no  such  custom  in  mind.  What  James  urges  is 
public  confession,  in  particular  to  those  wronged, 
not  private  and  secret  confession  to  a  priest.  The 
Roman  Catholic  Confessional  is  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  of  ecclesiastical  institutions.  It  puts  un- 
told power  for  harm  into  the  hands  of  the  priest. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  a  husband  or  father 
could  be  willing  for  wife  or  daughter  to  make  secret 
confession  to  a  priest.  The  abuses  of  the  confes- 
sional make  a  horrible  chapter  in  human  history. 
Not  merely  are  things  wrung  out  that  should  not  be 
told,  but  evil  is  suggested  that  would  never  be 
thought  of.  The  original  form  of  absolution  was 
"precatory  rather  than  declaratory"  (Plummer). 
But  it  is  a  great  good  to  the  soul  to  open  the  heart 
and  make  a  frank  confession  to  the  church  or  to  the 
persons  who  have  been  injured.  Great  sorrow 
would  be  avoided  if  men  would  only  have  the  man- 
hood to  do  this  thing.    Tertullian  (On  Penance  viii) 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       261 

well  says:  "Confession  of  sins  lightens  as  much  as 
concealment  aggravates  them."  Confession  of  sin 
was  one  of  the  cardinal  tenets  in  the  preaching  of 
John  the  Baptist.  The  Romanists  demanded  pen- 
ance for  sins  publicly  confessed  and  private  enmity 
(Plummer)  took  advantage  of  it  for  purposes  of 
revenge. 

Then  it  is  a  good  time  to  pray  "that  ye  may  be 
healed"  (oncog  ladrjTe).  Then  the  power  of  God  is 
with  men  to  heal  both  soul  and  body.  Many  a 
revival  has  started  in  a  church  because  those  who 
have  been  estranged  have  buried  the  hatchet  and 
see  eye  to  eye  again.  There  is  power  in  prayer  when 
the  soul  is  open  to  God  as  can  be  true  only  when 
hate  disappears  from  the  heart.  "The  supplication 
of  a  righteous  man  availeth  much  in  its  working" 
(ttoAv  loxvet  dirjoig  dticaiov  evepyov/j,ev7]) ,  "the  prayers  of 

the  righteous  have  a  powerful  effect"  (MofTatt). 
This  short  sentence  is  clearer  in  the  Greek  than  in 
any  of  the  English  renderings.  Plummer  suggests: 
"Great  is  the  strength  of  a  righteous  man's  supplica- 
tion, in  its  earnestness."  The  word  for  "supplica- 
tion" (depots)  is  more  specific  than  the  usual  term 
term  (evxv)  and  suggests  a  sense  of  need.  But  the 
crucial  word  is  the  participle  (evepyovfievrf) ,  which 
may  be  either  middle  or  passive.1  Our  word  "ener- 
getic" is  derived  from  the  verbal  adjective  (kvep- 
yrjTifcog)  of  this  word.  The  notion  of  "energy"  is 
present  at  any  rate.  The  great  word  in  modern 
science  is  this  very  word  energy,   which  is  made 

1  See  extensive  discussion  in  Mayor.    The  N.  T.  usage  favors  the 
middle,  but  the  passive  is  also  in  use  and  either  makes  good  sense. 


262   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

luminous  by  electricity  and  radium.  The  only 
prayer  worth  while  is  one  with  "energy"  in  it, 
whether  "inwrought"  (taking  evepyovnivT]  as  passive) 
by  the  Spirit  of  God  or  at  work  (middle  voice) 
through  the  spiritual  passion  of  the  man's  own 
soul.  Such  a  prayer  has  much  force  (ttoXv  laxvei)  in 
it  and  is  not  a  mere  ceremony  nor  rattle  of  meaning- 
less words.  The  emphasis  on  "a  righteous  man" 
(dLnaiov)  here  does  not  mean  that  God  will  not  hear 
the  cry  of  a  sinner  for  mercy,  but  probably  that  a 
righteous  man  is  more  likely  to  put  the  proper 
energy  into  his  prayer.  We  may  sadly  reflect  that 
our  prayers  often  have  no  power  with  God  because 
they  have  no  energy  when  said.  There  is  no  power 
in  the  dynamo.  The  engine  has  gone  dead.  The 
steam  is  not  high  enough  to  move  the  driving  wheel. 
Oesterley  quotes  aptly  the  words  of  Rabbi  Ben 
Zakkai  in  Berachoth,  34b,  when  prayers  for  a  sick 
child  are  desired:  "Although  I  am  greater  in  learn- 
ing than  Chaninah,  he  is  more  efficacious  in  prayer; 
I  am  indeed  the  Prince,  but  he  is  the  Steward  who 
has  constant  access  to  the  King."  There  are  men 
who  have  power  in  prayer.  They  have  it  because 
they  live  close  to  God.  With  a  great  price  they 
have  won  this  high  prerogative.  Ofttimes  they  are 
the  humblest  of  men  in  earthly  station  and  store. 
Very  mechanical  surely  is  the  idea  of  Rabbi  Isaac 
(Jebamoth,  64a),  who  says:  "The  prayer  of  the 
righteous  is  comparable  to  a  pitchfork;  as  the 
pitchfork  changes  the  position  of  the  wheat  so  the 
prayer  changes  the  disposition  of  God  from  wrath 
to  mercy." 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       263 

James  has  a  typical  case  to  illustrate  his  point. 
"Elijah  was  a  man  of  like  passions  with  us"  (JKXeiag 
dvdgo)7Tog  r\v  bfioioiradf}c;  -rjfxlv),  "with  a  nature  just  like 
our  own"  (Moffatt).  James  emphasizes  the  human 
frailties  (dfJMoiradrig)  of  Elijah  to  show  that  he  does 
not  refer  to  ceremonial  or  sacramental  rites  when 
he  urges  prayer  for  the  sick.  Such  prayer  is  the 
privilege,  not  merely  of  the  elders  of  the  church,  but 
of  any  good  man  who  has  the  ear  of  God.  That 
power  is  not  a  function  of  ecclesiastical  position,  but 
the  reward  of  holy  living  and  trust  in  God.  Elijah 
had  his  weaknesses  as  we  all  have,  but  God  heard 
him.  The  point  for  us  is  that,  if  God  heard  Elijah, 
he  will  hear  any  of  us  who  puts  the  same  amount  of 
spiritual  energy  into  his  prayer.  "He  prayed  fer- 
vently" (npooevxzj  TrpooTjv^aro) . l  There  is  no  use  to 
pray  in  any  other  way.  Elijah  prayed  seven  times 
before  the  rain  came.  Half-hearted  prayer  defeats 
itself  (cf.  doubting  prayer  in  1 :  6ff.).  Many  modern 
men  have  no  faith  in  prayer  of  any  kind  save  as  a 
wholesome  reaction  on  the  mind  of  the  one  who 
prays.  They  scout  the  idea  that  the  God  of  the 
universe  would  condescend  to  listen  to  the  feeble 
chatter  of  such  worms  in  the  dust  as  men.  They 
conceive  it  as  impossible  that  God  would  alter  in  the 
least  his  will  in  any  particular  because,  of  such  insig- 
nificant requests.  Least  of  all  do  they  admit  the 
possibility  that  God  would  change  the  weather  in 
response  to  the  prayer  of  one  or  many  individuals. 
They  argue  that  the  laws  of  the  weather  are  fixed 

1  This  idiom,  common  in  the  LXX  in  translation  from  the  He- 
brew infinitive  absolute,  appears  also  in  the  common  Greek. 


264   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

by  the  laws  of  nature  and  that  God  does  not  alter 
his  own  laws.  A  very  pretty  network  of  impossi- 
bilities is  fixed  up,  but  all  the  same  the  experience 
of  Christians  breaks  right  through  all  these  en- 
tanglements. A  real  God  is  greater  than  his  own 
laws  and  his  own  will  is  the  chief  law  of  his  nature. 
God  is  not  an  absentee  God  and  he  is  our  Father 
and  loves  for  us  to  tell  him  our  troubles.  Certainly 
God  knows  how  to  work  his  own  laws.  We  do  not 
have  to  think  that  Elijah  had  the  matter  of  drouth 
and  rain  in  his  own  hands,  at  his  beck  and  call  (tov 
jtfi  Ppet-ai  mi  ovk  e[3pe&v).  Far  from  it.  Elijah  won 
in  prayer  by  strenuous  prayer  and  perseverance,  not 
by  lightly  informing  God  of  his  wishes.  Besides, 
when  rain  came  in  response  to  the  prayer  of  Elijah, 
it  came  out  of  clouds,  as  rain  always  does.  God 
made  the  clouds  gather  from  the  west  (the  Mediter- 
ranean) till  the  rain  came.  As  the  hot  winds  from 
the  east  and  the  south  brought  the  drouth,  so  the 
west  winds  brought  the  rain.  Many  times  in  my 
own  experience  I  have  known  people  to  pray  for 
rain  and  the  rain  came.  This  very  thing  happened 
last  summer  (19 14).  The  rain  may  not  have  come 
in  response  to  the  prayer.  Of  that  I  do  not  know, 
but  it  came  the  very  night  in  which  prayer  was 
made  for  it  at  the  prayer  meeting.  The  difficulty 
in  the  matter  of  rain  is  no  greater  than  in  cases  of 
sickness.  The  root  of  the  trouble  is  the  lack  of 
trust  in  God,  the  broken  relation  with  God,  the 
loss  of  power  with  God. 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       265 

7.  Rescue  Work  or  Restoring  the  Erring.    5:  igf. 

James  makes  a  last  appeal  to  his  readers  and  it 
has  a  touch  of  tenderness.  "My  brethren"  (AdeX- 
(pot  (jlov).  In  verse  16  he  spoke  of  the  case  of  a  sick 
man  who  is  brought  to  confess  his  sins  and  is  led 
to  God.  Here  he  seems  to  refer  specifically  to  the 
case  of  a  brother  who  has  fallen  into  error.  There 
are  such  sad  instances  that  puzzle  many  a  pastor  by 
their  indifference,  hardness,  and  even  scorn  of 
Christ.  "If  any  among  you  err  from  the  truth,  and 
one  convert  him"  (kav  rig  ev  v\iiv  TrXavrjOr/  a-nb  rrj^ 
dXrjdelag  icai  kmoTpeipq  rig  avrdv) .  The  condition  (third 
class)  is  put  delicately  only  as  a  supposed  case,  not 
assumed  as  true  and  yet  as  probable,  alas.  "Err" 
is  from  the  Latin  err  are  (to  wander,  to  go  astray). 
The  Greek  word  here  (nXavrjdq)  suggests  the  picture 
of  one  who  is  lost  in  the  mountains,  who  has  missed 
his  path,1  without  passing  on  the  question  of  his 
own  part  in  the  process.  That  is  now  neither  here 
nor  there,  for  he  is  lost.  Our  "planet"  is  this  word 
from  the  notion  that  these  luminaries  were  wander- 
ing stars,  not  fixed  like  the  rest.  We  now  know 
that  none  of  the  stars  are  "fixed,"  but  they  all 
move  with  great  speed.  But,  whatever  the  cause,  it 
is  not  impossible  for  brethren  to  go  astray  "from  the 
truth."  One  way  to  treat  them  is  to  kick  them  out 
of  the  way  down  the  hill.  Another  way  is  to  go 
after  them  with  hammer  and  tongs  to  beat  them 

xThe  passive  voice  does  not  have  its  technical  force  here  as  in 
Rev.  18:23,  but  rather  is  more  like  the  middle  in  sense  as  in  Deut. 
22:1  and  probably  (Mayor)  in  Luke  21:8;  2  Pet.  2:15.  The  pas- 
sive is  constantly  making  inroads  on  the  middle  in  the  kolvt). 


266   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

back  into  the  path.  Another  way  is  to  give  them 
up  in  disgust  and  to  wash  our  hands  of  all  responsi- 
bility. It  must  be  confessed  that  often  it  is  very 
hard  to  do  anything  else,  since  brethren  act  with 
so  much  independence  and  resent  any  effort  to 
show  them  a  better  way.  When  they  start  away, 
so  often  they  go  the  whole  way.  But  there  is  a 
more  excellent  way,  the  way  of  love.  See,  not  only 
i  Cor.  13,  but  also  Gal.  6 :  iff.  We  are  our  brothers' 
keepers  in  spite  of  all  they  say  and  all  that  we  may 
feel.  Ye  that  are  spiritual  have  a  call  to  mind 
the  broken  lives  all  about  you.  There  is  no  nobler 
work  than  this  rescue  work,  to  "turn  a  sinner  from 
the  error  of  his  way"  (6  imoTpEipag  dfjbaprcjXov  eic  irXavqc; 
bdov  avTov).1  It  is  so  hard  to  get  a  man  back  on  the 
right  track.  He,  like  all  lost  men,  wanders  round 
and  round  in  his  old  tracks  of  sin  and  error.  He  is 
the  victim  of  his  own  logical  fallacies  and  sinful 
delusions.  Though  a  giant,  he  is  bound  by  the 
cords  of  the  Lilliputians,  the  bonds  of  habit  which 
he  does  not  break.  It  is  enough  to  discourage  any 
social  worker  in  the  slums  or  in  the  tenement  dis- 
tricts of  our  cities  to  see  the  hopeless  conditions  in 
which  the  victims  live.  Drugs  have  fastened  some 
with  clamps  of  steel.  Drink  has  fired  the  blood  of 
others.  The  cigarette  has  deadened  the  will  of 
these.  Immorality  has  hurled  these  others  to  the 
pit.  They  stumble  into  the  rescue  halls,  "cities  of 
refuge"  in  our  cities.     Happy  are  those  who  know 


1  Note  6  cniorpiipac,  the  aorist  participle  describing  the  worker 
for  souls. 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       267 

how  to  save  souls  like  these,  who  have  known 
better  days  and  who  have  gone  down  into  the 
valley  of  sin  and  sorrow.  But  it  is  worth  while  to 
save  souls  like  these  for  whom  Jesus  died.  Let  the 
rescue  worker  know  (yivooKiro),  by  personal  ex- 
perience, in  truth)  that  he  "shall  save  a  soul  from 
death"  (ouoei  i/w£??v  etc  davdrov),  from  a  living  death 
in  which  such  a  soul  already  finds  itself  and  from 
eternal  death  as  well.  That  is  the  reward  of  the 
winner  of  souls. 

But  it  is  not  alone  those  who  go  down  into  the 
depths  of  gross  sin,  the  "pick-me-ups"  of  life,  that 
are  to  be  won  back.  There  are  many  who  live  in 
accord  with  the  outward  ethical  standards  of  life 
who  turn  away  from  the  knowledge  of  Jesus,  who  go 
after  the  strange  gods  of  gold,  of  "knowledge  falsely 
so-called,"  of  materialistic  monism,  of  "New 
Thought,"  of  "Christian  Science,"  of  "Russellism," 
of  any  new  fad  in  science  or  philosophy  or  religion, 
of  any  new  form  of  old  wives'  fables  that  lead  men 
astray.  These  are  in  reality  more  difficult  to  win 
back  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  for  they  have  the 
pride  of  knowledge  and  look  with  compassionate 
condescension  on  those  who  still  worship  Jesus  as 
God  and  Saviour  from  sin. 

The  worker  for  souls  has  one  more  joy.  He 
learns  to  see  the  good  side  of  human  nature.  The 
bad  side  is  there  beyond  a  shadow  of  doubt.  No 
man  knows  that  better  than  the  worker  for  the 
redemption  of  human  souls.  But  this  fact  does  not 
make  him  a  pessimist  or  a  cynic.  He  sees  the 
angel  in  the  stone.     He  learns  the  love  that  "shall 


268   PRACTICAL  AND  SOCIAL  ASPECTS 

cover  a  multitude  of  sins"  (KaXvxpei  nkrjdog  apaprtibv),1 
"hides  a  host  of  sins"  (Moffatt),  covers  with  a  veil 
(icaXvipei)  the  sins  of  the  poor  soul  who  wandered 
away  and  is  now  brought  back.  See  i  Pet.  4 :  8  for 
the  same  idea.  This  is  not  the  Jewish  doctrine  of 
merit  in  good  works  balancing  evil  ones,  as  Oesterly 
holds.  Mayor  also  thinks  that  the  idea  is  that  the 
man  who  rescues  another  saves  his  own  soul.  But  I 
cannot  agree  to  that  interpretation,  so  out  of  har- 
mony with  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  the  whole 
trend  of  the  gospel  message.  We  do  not  need  to  go 
back  to  these  "blind  guides"  of  Pharisaism  to  find 
the  key  to  this  verse  and  that  in  1  Pet.  4:8,  where 
we  read  that  "love  covers  a  multitude  of  sins."  It 
is  the  love  that  no  longer  sees  the  sins  of  the  saved 
sinner.  We  see  the  true  idea  in  Prov.  10:  12 :  "Hate 
stirreth  up  strife,  but  love  covereth  all  transgres- 
sions." See  also  Psa.  85:2:  "Thou  hast  forgiven 
the  iniquity  of  thy  people;  thou  hast  covered  all 
their  sin."  In  Luke  7 :  47  Jesus  speaks  of  the  love 
of  the  converted  woman  as  proof  that  she  has  been 
forgiven  much.  James  presents  the  joy  of  the 
winner  of  souls  who  throws  the  mantle  of  love  over 
the  sins  of  the  repentant  sinner,  the  joy  of  the 
Shepherd  who  has  found  the  lost  sheep  out  on  the 
mountain  and  is  returning  with  him  in  his  arms, 
the  joy  of  the  Father  who  welcomes  home  the 
prodigal  boy  with  the  best  robe  and  the  fatted  calf, 
the  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  that  one  sinner 
has  repented  and  turned  unto  God.  That  is  heaven 
on  earth.     The  preacher  who  has  missed  this  joy 

1  The  Vulgate  has  it  operiet  multitudinem  peccatorum. 


PERSEVERANCE  AND  PRAYER       269 

of  winning  souls  has  missed  the  greatest  reward  in 
his  ministry.  If  he  has  this,  he  can  do  without 
much  else.  He  can  stand  many  rebuffs,  small 
salary,  lack  of  help,  if  only  he  has  this  meat  to 
eat  that  satisfied  the  soul  of  Jesus  when  he  led 
one  poor  abandoned  woman  into  the  light  and  life 
of  God. 


SOME  MODERN  BOOKS  ON  JAMES 

Only  the  best  of  the  modern  books  are  here  men- 
tioned : 

Beyschlag,   W.     Der  Brief  des  Jakobus.     Meyer- 
Kommentar.    Sechste  Aufiage.     1898. 

Brown,  Charles.    The  General  Epistle  of  James.    A 
Devotional  Commentary.    Second  edition.    1907. 

Carr,  Arthur.     The  General  Epistle  of  St.  James. 
The  Cambridge  Greek  Testament.     1896. 
1/  Dale,  R.  W.     Discourses  on  the  Epistle  of  James. 
1895. 

Hollmann,  G.    Der  Jakobusbrief.    Die  Schriften  des 
Neuen  Testament.     1907. 

Hort,  F.  J.  A.     The  Epistle  of   St.  James,  1 :  1  to 

4:7-     i9°9- 
Johnstone,  R.     Lectures  Exegetical  and  Practical. 

187 1.    Edition  two  in  1889. 
•    Knowling,  R.  J.    Commentary  on  the  Epistle  of  St. 

James.    The  Westminster  Series.     1904. 
-    Mayor,  J.  B.     The  Epistle  of  St.  James.     Third 

Edition.     19 10.    The  ablest  volume  on  James. 
Meinertz,    Der  Jakobus  Brief  und   sein  Verfasser. 

1905.    Roman  Catholic  interpretation. 
Oesterley,  W.    The  General  Epistle  of  James.     The 

Expositor's  Greek  Testament.     191  o. 
Patrick,  W.    James,  the  Lord's  Brother.     1906. 
Plummer,   A.     The  General  Epistle  of  St.  James. 

The  Expositor's  Bible.     1891. 
270 


SOME  MODERN  BOOKS  ON  JAMES   271 

Soden,   H.   von.     Der  Brief  des  Jakobus.     Hand- 

Commentar.     1893. 
Spitta,  F.    Der  Brief  Jakobus.     1896. 
Weiss,  B.     Der  Jakobusbrief  und  die  neuere  Kritik. 

1904. 
Windisch,  H.     Handbuch  zum  Neuen  Testament 

1911. 


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